The Crystal Wars
by snoopykid
Summary: Galaxia has been defeated, but the peace that was brought forth is about to come to an end. A long forgotten history is about to unravel itself, and threaten to bring destruction down upon everyone. There is a reason why history should never have been allowed to be forgotten. Fate has one last war for Serena to face if Crystal Tokyo has a hope to survive, will she succeed?
1. Chapter 1

So because I started watching Sailor Moon Crystal (I actually like it better than the original; Serena's voice isn't as whiny and her relationship with Rini seems better to me for some reason); I am going to repost this story. It was originally titled: I Cannot take this Anymore. I think there is even a video I made for it on Youtube under my account.

I had taken it down because I had intended on re-writing it and making a legit story out of it, but I just figured that I am going to rewrite it as I go along. My original premises is going to remain somewhat the same.

I do not own Sailor Moon.

 **The Crystal Wars**

Loneliness, sadness, fear, pain. Yes that is what filled a young girl's heart at this very moment. Serena walked the streets as the sky threatened to crack thunder at a moment's notice. She left home because she could not sleep. Something in her dreams told her that she was not suitable to be there in her nice warm bed with Luna snuggling by her. Serena got up and changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, grabbed her sweat jacket and jumped out the window landing gracefully on the grass.

'Maybe the lying to them thing is starting to get to me,' Serena thought with disdain, as raindrops started to come down lightly. She wanted to transform into Sailor Moon to let out whatever anxiety she was filled with, but thought better of it; not wanting to alert Darien to where she was.

Serena kept walking and found herself in the park by the bench. Sighing heavily she sat as more raindrops became a little heavier than before and a small rumbled of thunder was heard in the distance.

Normally this would scare the crap out of Serena, but tonight she was not even fazed. In fact she fully welcomed the impending storm; anything that was able to distract her from her thoughts she would more than welcome with open arms. Lightening cracked and she just watch it, enjoying the light show that was being presented to her.

She knew the peace was going to be broken. Things were going to change immensely and there was nothing she or any of the Scouts could do to stop it. The peace that was brought about when Galaxia was defeated was coming to an abrupt end just as it began.

Serena sighed as now she was caught in the downpour; thunder rolled nonstop, and lightening cracked the sky. Serena still did not care in the slightest. She was still caught up in her thoughts. There was going to be choices she would have to make that she never had to make before. There was going to be a fork in the road, destiny was going to be put to the test. To let go or to stay?

How did she know all of this? It was in her dream. She then started to shiver. Not because she was wet, but because of the extremity of the dream. How was she going to handle this? Sure she was not the same girl she was before: scared, defenseless, whinny, innocent. "No that girl died and she is not coming back," Serena said out loud to the emptiness that surrounded her.

Everyone noticed that yes in fact the girl that they had known was gone. Gone and never to return. Rei, Mina, Lita, Ami, and Darien noticed the change in their friend a week later after the defeat of Galaxia. They had asked her about it, but Serena said she was fine, "If only they knew I was far from it," Serena sighed inwardly.

She felt like everything now was spinning out of control. Her fairytale was turning into more of a nightmare. Was happiness really worth all this suffering? Should she just tear down the castle she had built and say to hell with it? Shaking her head Serena thought, 'no I can't do that. No matter what I will protect them at all cost', them referring to the Scouts and her Prince.

Nodding her head as if to approve of the decision she got up; the rain had let up some and she made trek back to her house.

 _ **-Snoopykid-**_

A young priestess sits in front of a roaring fire. She is confused and perplexed. The fire has always let her see into the future…has always answered her questions, but this time it is as if something is forcing it not to show or tell her anything.

Rei sat back and thought this over with a perplexed frown on her face. No one except her controlled the fire. It has been this way since the Silver Millennium; or so she thought. Rei had this really bad feeling that something big was about to go down. It had started with Serena not acting like herself.

She had first started noticing a change in her bubbly friend like a week after the Galaxia battle. Serena had tried of course to seem fine and perfectly normal, but Rei could sense something wrong. Serena barley smile, when she did it was forced. She barely even spoke unless spoken too. And once more she had started to isolate herself from them. Rei shivered at the thought of Serena closing herself off again, just like when Darien had gone to America and she hadn't heard from him. It wasn't until Serena's confession on the rooftop to Seiya did they find out the truth.

"Damn it Meatball head." Rei muttered as she glared at the fire in front of her, "What are you hiding from us?" She heard a beep from her wrist and looked down and saw the time, "Oh god I cannot believe that I have been up all night. I got to get ready to meet the girls." Rei was about to get up, but took once last look at the fire, hoping it would somehow change its mind and show her what she seek from it, but it just flickered. She shook her head in disappointment and left the room to get ready.

 **-** _ **Snoopykid-**_

Meanwhile a soaking wet Serena snuck back in the house through her window. It had taken her a little longer to get home than she wanted; but when she had made it back to her street the first time around, she hadn't wanted to go back inside and just stare at the ceiling. The thunderstorm was still welcoming to her, and so she passed her house and went on her own little journey.

Even now, she didn't feel like standing in her room. She didn't want to get changed, she didn't feel like doing much of anything. Her dull blue eyes gazed to the sleeping black cat on her bed, 'Oh Luna', Serena thought fondly to herself as she allowed her hand to stroke Luna's soft black fur. Her eyes then go to the digital alarm clock on her nightstand next to a picture of her, Darien, the girls, and Rini. It was quarter to seven, no point in really trying to get anymore sleep. Giving Luna one last easy stoke, she then grabbed a new set of clothes and tiptoed out of the room hoping not to wake up the feline on her bed.

Luna however was already awake, and it wasn't due to Serena's petting either. The black cat had been awake nearly all night once the raging thunder storm had rolled into the area. It had been a harsh one too, and she had been waiting for the whimpering and shaking to start, but when it had not come, it was then she had discovered the empty bed. Luna had searched the entire house, but Serena was not insight. The only conclusion she had come to was that Serena had snuck out in the middle of the night.

Of course this had bothered her; and she had fully intended on tearing into her young charge once the blonde had returned and demand to know what was happening. She had gone to the scouts and Darien to discuss their princess's behavior when Serena was in school supposedly studying, but they had not one clue. Of course everyone had seen the change, but they did not want to accept it to some extent. Darien was upset the most about Serena's reaction to them. Luna could tell how much he was hurting, but what was worrying her the most was that if Darien had no clue then her problem maybe something big. Serena went to Darien for everything if she could not tell anyone else what it was.

Serena was more reserved and a work-alcoholic now a days, and that really frightened her. She wished Serena would talk to her, but she never did. Luna sighed and stretched getting the kinks out, 'I will have to approach her about this sneaking off business.' After the meeting she had hung out with Artemis. He tried to cheer her up, but it was a lost cause.

Besides her attitude being totally different it was her appearance all together. She looked paler, her eyes had dark purplish circles from the lack of sleep, and the shine had diminished from her serene blue eyes. Luna sat and pondered how to approach Serena when she walked in, "Oh Luna did I wake you?" Serena asked faking cheerfulness.

Luna shook her head, and sat back on her hunches, "No I was just waking up."

There was an awkward silence. Serena sighed and started to make her bed when Luna hopped off and relocated on the window seat, "So Serena why are you up early?" Luna asked to break the silence tail twitching in mock curiosity.

"I honestly could not sleep anymore." Serena lied nonchalantly, but deep down she felt trapped. She had a feeling that Luna was trying to weasel something out of her, she had to be on her guard.

Luna had sensed that Serena had her guard up. She would have to be careful, "Serena if there is something bothering you, you always know that you can talk to me right?"

"Wrong? Luna what makes you think that there is something wrong?" Serena asked as she let out a false laugh and smile.

Luna shook her head and decided to stop beating around the bush, "Ok I'm going to just say it. I know you snuck out last night. I know that you are having trouble sleeping. I know that you are hiding something from us. I've noticed, the girls noticed, your family knows it, and Darien noticed it," Luna looked Serena in the eye; "Your actions are scaring us. You are isolating yourself; you're not eating, sleeping, or even hanging out with us," seeing that Serena was about to open her mouth Luna cut her off, "and do not even give me the school work excuse, just spare me please."

There was a pause as Serena sighed. What should she do? Lie, tell the truth, or in between? She looked into the glaring yellow eyes and bit her lip; she couldn't outright lie anymore. She didn't want to, but she couldn't tell the truth either, so she supposed she would have to settle for the in between, "Luna I know I can trust you; all of you. I know that I am worrying you all, but it's not on purpose," Serena grabbed her book bag and started to gather her stuff for school, "I just feel like I'm going through things that I really need to do on my own."

"Well that is so not vague one bit." Luna said sarcastically rolling her eyes. Serena ignored the comment as she finished getting ready.

As far as she was concerned, that was all Luna needed to know. It was as close to the truth as she was going to get. Once she was ready, she turned the light off in her room, and made her way down the stairs followed by Luna. Once she reached the bottom, she placed her shoes on and caught a glimpse of her mother in the kitchen making breakfast.

Upon seeing her daughter her mom called out when Serena's hand touched the handle, "Oh Serena I'm making chocolate chip pancakes. Want some?"

Serena saw hope in her mom's eyes. She looked down at Luna who gave her a nudge to go over and have some, but Serena shook her head, "Sorry Mom, but I have to meet the girls." Without even waiting for a response she walked out the door, leaving a disappointed mother and guardian inside.


	2. Chapter 2

Nope…I still owe nothing, not making money, not getting any fame or glory. Just a girl, a laptop, and an imagination.

 **The Crystal Wars**

 _ **30th Century Crystal Tokyo-**_

Neo-Queen Serenity had a pensive look on her face as she stared out into the distance, "You are troubled."

She did not need to look to see who spoke to her, but instead chose to keep looking out into her peaceful kingdom; a slight breeze welcoming her as she stood on the balcony, "What gave it away?"

The figure came over to her, "There is a disturbance in the Time Gate. It has something to do with the past." She waited for a response from her queen, but got nothing. Waiting for a moment or two longer, she continued, "Judging by your expression, it seems as if you already know this, or something about this."

"Being the keeper of the Time Gate and all knowing, I would think you would have already knew Pluto." Neo-Queen Serenity said smiling sadly as she looked at the Outer Guardian and her friend.

Sailor Pluto watched as the queen stepped inside her office, heels clicking on the crystal floor, "Your Majesty?"

Neo-Queen Serenity had her hands clasped in front of her, her back towards the Guardian of Time, "This is not like the other time Pluto. This is not like Darien breaking up with me, it did not change destiny as you already know." She now chose to face Pluto, who wore a pensive look, "This is something much larger at play, something that neither the other Scouts nor Darien has yet to face."

"Serenity-"

There was a knock on the queen's door and without so much as waiting for a response, it flew open, "Mama!" Their heads turned to see the young princess bursting through, "Daddy says dinner is-Puu!" The young girl deviated away from the queen and was caught in the arms of Sailor Pluto.

"Small Lady, good to see you." Pluto responded in kind, and looked towards the queen who strangely wore a frown on her face.

"Small Lady." Serenity's tone turned into one of warning, which caused the pink haired girl to wince and look at her mother.

She pulled away from the Sailor Guardian and swallowed a lump in her throat, "I am sorry Mama."

Serenity tried to remain stern, but flashes of her pervious life with the young girl came to the forefront of her mind, and she ended up sighing. She honestly found it hard to sometimes to remain stern after everything they had been through, and soon would go through again, "Honey you cannot just burst in here like that. How do you know I wasn't with a dignitary or doing something very important?"

Rini looked at her mother and saw how tired she was and almost exhausted. So unlike her past self. Often times she yearned to go to the past, to experience her younger more cheerful mother. It hurt so much to see the transition sometimes that Rini wished she could make it all disappear, if that would get her mother to smile like she used to, "I know I shouldn't have, it's just that you've been in here all day. I was just excited to get the opportunity to come and get you for dinner." She responded after seeing that her mother was waiting for a response.

Serenity looked at the young girl, and gave her daughter a small smile, one that had Sailor Pluto on a bit of an alert. Kneeling down, she opened her arms and Rini ran into them welcoming the hug, "I am sorry darling, but I've been busy. How about this, after dinner we will do something as a family? Anything you want."

Rini pulled away and looked at her mother, "Really? Anything I want?"

Serenity nodded, "Anything."

"Cool!" Rini exclaimed pulling away from the queen to do a classic and familiar V salute that brought back memories, "I am going to tell Daddy! Don't forget, dinner! Bye Puu!" She was then out of the office.

Sailor Pluto had been watching the exchange and was (for the first time) disappointed in the queen and her friend, "You lied to her."

"Unintentional." Serenity said solemnly, "Something is going to happen Sailor Pluto. Something that is out of our hands."

"Have you told any of the other Scouts this?" Pluto asked as her grip on her garnet rod tightend.

"No…at least not at this _**time**_." Serenity emphasized. She made her way over to the balcony once more and said, "I summoned you here to tell you to not go into the past just yet, at least until you are summoned by my younger self."

Pluto's garnet colored eyes followed the queen like a cat hunting her prey, "What about Luna and Artemis? Have you told them of this?"

Serenity looked at Pluto, "No one, in fact by default, you are the only one who has an idea as to what will happen here."

"How is that possible?" Serenity summoned her crystal and brought it forth into being. Pluto's eyes widen in sudden understanding, "You are keeping their memories of the past at bay?"

"Indeed I am." Serenity willed the crystal away and faced away from her guest once more, "Some things are better not knowing. The girls are on a training expedition together, Darien is here with me, and Luna and Artemis are taking their time off. It was the least I can do for them right now."

"May I just-?" Pluto cut herself off and outright said, "This is despicable, your majesty this is absolutely-"

"Despicable?" Serenity asked and then snorted, "You are right, but what I am doing to them right now in the past is so much worse. It wasn't even of my own choice…once more I do not have a bloody damn choice." The last part was muttered, so Pluto didn't know if she was supposed to hear it or not. Either way, before she could get another chance to speak, Serenity looked at her, this time blue eyes pleading, "I also asked you here for a something else."

"If it is to be a part of this atrocious plan of yours-" Pluto started in a warning tone.

"First thing, you do not have a choice." Serenity said firmly, "You are bound to the royal family of the moon. Once you get the full story then you will want to help me…or rather her." Then more softly, the queen said, "Second thing, right now though I am not asking for you to help me directly; it is about Small Lady. Please Setsuna," Pluto's eyes widened, not having heard her alias's name in so long that she was surprised Serenity seemed to recall it, "if you have seen the timeline, you know what is to come this day."

Pluto sighed and closed her eyes. Reaching down, her hand gripped a key that hung on a chain around her waist. Giving a small twist, the key came loose and she held it out to the queen, "For the record;" The queen took the key and looked at the Time Guardian expectantly, "I really hate this plan of yours."

Serenity smirked, "For the record? So do I. Now remember what I said, do not go to the past until you are summoned by me." Pluto nodded once, "Thank you my friend, hope to see you soon."

"Best of luck your majesty. Hope to see you again soon as well; under better circumstances of course." Pluto tapped her garnet rod on the ground and a door appeared. Giving the majestic queen one more forlorn look, she stepped through. Neo-Queen Serenity smiled sadly and sighed. Taking in her office once more, wishing for just one moment, things could have just stayed peaceful.

There was another knock on the door, making the queen jump, "Love?"

Serenity quickly pocketed the time key and answered back, "Come in dear."

Endymion entered the room slowly and said, "I sent Small Lady to come get you for dinner. She said that you were coming, but that was almost fifteen minutes ago." Taking in his wife's appearance, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"Of course. Lost track of time…" She internally snorted at this.

"Ah, Small Lady mentioned Sailor Pluto was here." Endymion responded as he reached for his wife's hand and kissed the top of it, then pulled her close to him, "Is everything alright? It is not like her to just show up you know."

Serenity nodded and breathed in his scent deeply, almost trying to commit it to memory, "Yes everything is fine. Now I believe you mentioned dinner." She said trying to change the subject.

Endymion chuckled, "Yes dinner." He looked at her and bowed deeply, "May I have the pleasure of your company for a delightful meal?"

Serenity chuckled back and curtsied, "You may good sir. That is if there is any of the presumably delightful meal left."

"Why whatever do you mean?" Endymion asked as he grabbed her arm and hooked it through his own as he led her into the hallway.

"I think you know what I mean. The bottomless pit known as Small Lady. Did you leave her unaccompanied in the dining room?"

Endymion laughed, "The bottomless pit takes after you in that department, so you only have yourself to blame for that trait my love." This earned him a whack in the shoulder, which only made him laugh harder, "To answer your question, yes she is alone, however under strict instructions to not touch a pea until I came back with you. Under penalty of intense Sailor Scout training that you can think of."

Serenity now laughed at this, "Then I suppose I will have to pull out Venus's training manual and find something…or better yet Mars had some pretty good workouts too."

As they continued to laugh back and forth they soon made it to the dining room and was greeted by a cheerful pink haired girl, who grabbed both their hands and led them over to the table muttering a happy, " _ **Finally**_."

'Yes,' Serenity thought forlornly once more as she observed the happiness of her husband, and daughter, 'how I so deeply wish this could have been our happily ever after.' Even as she thought this, hoping that the crystal would respond to the wish, even if a larger part of her knew that the crystal wouldn't. Endymion looked at her lovingly, and Rini gave her a smile that was much like how her very own used to be, but instead of feeling joyful, she felt sorrow as the key weighed over a tone in her pocket, 'I am so sorry my loves'.

 _ **Present Day-**_

Serena sat in class only vaguely listening to the lecture that Ms. Haruna was giving. She had already read ahead in her book so she knew what she was discussing. Besides she did not care anyway. She had more pressing decisions to worry about than some lecture about Literature. It was during her evening stroll that she had the epiphany about what was coming and what she needed to do. All she had to really do now was waiting until the opportunity arose. So she had started drawing in her notebook, hoping time would fly by faster.

Ami, Lita, and Mina looked over at their princess. It was so depressing to see their friend like this. The last time they saw Serena this depressed was when she had out right confessed about Darien not responding to any of her messages when he was supposed to be away at Harvard to Seiya on the roof. They couldn't ignore it any longer; Luna was right, something needed to be done. Mina took out a piece of paper and scribbled a message on it and passed it to Lita.

M- _This is not right. I cannot ignore this anymore. Her heart is like clouded with guilt. WTH?!_

Lita read the message and sighed looking at Mina. How was she supposed to know what was wrong when Serena would not even talk with them…much less be seen with them.

L- _Why are u asking me for? She has not come clean with me. I guess we'll find out at the meeting when it's full on interrogation._

Lita looked satisfied with the message and was about to send it back when Ami caught her eye. Ami motioned to pass the note to her so Lita did.

Ami read the note and recalled the conversation they had had earlier that morning with Rei. It was rather disturbing to her that someone was blocking the fire from Rei. But surely this would disturb Serena as well. Ami knew Serena hated fighting but how are they going to break the news to her?

A – _I agree with Lita. She has not talked to us in over a week. How are we going to tell her about the new possible enemy?_

Ami folded the note and handed it back to Lita who handed it back to Mina. Mina read the messages and pondered how to respond. How where they going to tell Serena? Mina shot a glance at Serena who was idly doodling in her notebook with a look of worry on her face. With a sigh Mina wrote:

M- _We break it to her nice and easily._

She passed it to Lita. Lita read it and shook her head:

L- _If she says, 'screw it I'm not going' then what?_

She passed it Ami and Ami shook her head:

A – _She has to come. She is the leader after all. Besides if she does not come Rei will blow a gasket and there will be hell to pay._

She passed the note back and before Mina could read it Miss Haruna announced the lunch break.

"Ok let's go do it now." Mina said and they walked over to Serena.

Serena sighed. She decided that because she was not paying much attention anyway she would bail for the rest of the day. Besides she had some extra steam she needed to vent out on some innocent tree. As she was about to get up she saw Mina, Lita, and Ami standing beside her.

"Hey long time and no see," Mina smiled at her, but was internally cringing from the aura that had surrounded her princess's heart.

"Yea I kind of decided to buckle down and get busy with school work no one wants a stupid Queen right?" Serena tried to do her best in being cheerful but was failing miserably.

"Listen Sere Rei is having a meeting about-" Lita was interrupted when Serena put her hand up.

"Go wait for me outside." Serena said seriously looking across the room at her classmates. She had a feeling that she knew why Rei was calling a meeting. When they refused to budge, she gave them a look and started to move towards the door.

Before Serena could walk out Miss Haruna stopped her, "Serena can I talk to you for a minute?"

Serena looked at her friends and they gave her a look but signaled they would wait, "Sure."

"I just wanted to say how proud I am at how much effort you're putting into your school work." Miss Haruna smiled as the last of the students left the room, "Your parents must be proud also. That last test was amazing. Even Ami did not get a perfect score on it like you did."

Serena sighed and said, "You should not be proud of me."

Miss Haruna looked at her in surprise and asked, "You did not cheat did you?"

"No of course not! But how can you be proud of something when I should've been doing the work in the first place?" Serena asked as she crossed her arms not meeting her teacher's gaze.

"I've known that you could've done the work, but your improvement is remarkable. You should be proud."

"That's just it. I'm not." Serena sighed as she handed in the homework assignments.

Miss Haruna looked at the papers that Serena had just turned in, "These are not due for another two weeks Serena. Why are-"

"I'm going away for a while so I read ahead and looked at the syllabus as to what is going to be due. These are the papers that were assigned." Serena took another look at her teacher and proceeded to the door, "Saying to be proud of something that should've been done in the first place is a waste." With that she walked out the door leaving a confused teacher in her wake.

Serena walked out of the school to find the girls hanging out under their tree, "So what were you saying?" Serena asked Lita, getting right to business.

"Rei is calling a scout meeting after school." Lita responded quickly.

"For what?" Serena responded wanting to get the answers and bail.

"Something about a new enemy but she is not sure. The fire is blocking her from seeing the future." Mina answered just as quickly.

Serena sighed, "Ok after school in the shrine I take it right?"

"Yes she said to be there or else there will be problems." Ami said adding Rei's threat/message.

Serena nodded and proceeded to the front gate, "Hey where are you going? School isn't over yet!" Mina called out as they all got to their feet as Serena walked away from the building.

"Just tell Rei that I'll be there!" Serena called back and ran from the school, not looking behind her. It would seem that this was her window of opportunity and she was taking it.

Making it back home in record time, Serena carefully snuck into her bedroom. She listened closely to any sound of her mother puttering about. Hearing nothing, she dropped her bag on her bed and carefully snuck downstairs. With caution and stealth from years of being a Sailor Scout, she moved down the stairs and waited. Still hearing nothing, she looked around the corner and into the kitchen, it was empty. Taking this as a sign that no one was home, she made her way to the kitchen and saw a note on the table.

Picking the paper up that had her mother's handwriting on it, she read that they had left for her dad's business trip and that Sammy was going to be staying at a friend's house for the weekend. Nodding her approval she went into the garage and saw that her car was in there. It was a sliver Audi A9. She had gotten it for all the hard work she was putting in at school; while she was overjoyed for the car she did not share this with her friends.

Sighing she went upstairs to pack and change into more comfortable clothes. She was never coming back, if she could help it. Not at least until she defeated whatever evil force was coming. All that was on her mind was keeping them safe. When she was done packing she changed out of her school uniform and into jeans, a white tank top, and a black leather jacket. Looking in the mirror she nodded her head and took her wallet, sun glasses, and her keys off her dresser. She took the broach off her uniform and stuffed it in her purse with her wallet. One last look she took out her Luna pen from one of her drawers and changed her hair color to silver.

She then went into her parents' room and found the safe that kept all of her parents' important paperwork and money. She saw her birth certificate which she took, her checkbook and bank stuff that she took out too, her passport, and lastly she took a few bills. She did not want to do this, but it was for everyone's own good.

Bonding down the stairs she stopped in the thrush hold between the garage and the hallway. She took out the silver crystal and made her wish on it, "Make this family believe they only had one child, Samuel Tsukino. Serena Tsukino is no longer part of this family." There was a brilliant flash of light, and everything that had a picture of Serena in it vanished, along with any sign that the Tuskinos' had a daughter. It was like she never existed.

Serena backed out of the garage and sat for five minutes in the driveway. She refused to cry…she could not cry. Shaking her head she took a quick look at the clock. It was time to change destiny. With that thought in mind she took off toward the shrine.

For most of the day, Darien was at the park reflecting on the meeting they had in the morning before the girls had gone to school. Luna had met up with them once Serena had left her house, and told them what happened that morning. He could not believe that she had been out in the storm. In fact he could not believe any of the things that was going on with his girlfriend as of late. It worried him, but the worst part was that it reminded him of the break up: how he had done everything he could to avoid her, just before he had ended things. 'Oh Serena, what is going on?' He thought to himself as he stared at a picture of him, Serena, and Rini in the middle of them.

So happy they once were, why can't they just have that happiness again? He shook his head, trying to summon hope. If Serena somehow lost her own hopeful nature, he would have to remind her of it himself. Placing the picture back into his wallet, he sighed as he looked at his watch and started to walk toward the shrine.

"Where is she?! Did you not give her my message?" Rei rounded on Mina, Lita, and Ami. Darien had wanted to say something to help calm Rei down, but Luna and Artemis each had placed a paw on his knee, shaking their heads.

Mina sighed in exasperation, "Of course we did, and I believe we just told not even two minutes ago that she ditched school during lunch! She said she'd be here." It was no use in yelling, she knew that Rei exploding on them was a knee jerk reaction to not knowing what was going on.

Ami was about to try and be the voice of reason, when they heard, "And so I am." The gasped when they saw Serena. Seeing them stare she said, "Look I don't have much time for this so let's get this rolling please."

Darien looked at Serena up and down and asked, "Serena what did you do?"

"Yeah what is going on?" Mina asked softly.

"I used the Luna pen to change my looks a bit." A bit seemed like an understatement to them, but allowed her to continue, "Right now I want to discuss know why there is this meeting." Serena said sitting down and everyone followed suite still not quiet over the shock.

Rei hesitated a bit longer, not liking the aura that Serena was giving off. It was eerie in nature, and somehow it had felt like there was a bomb in the room, and she was under pressure to diffuse it with only a minute left on the clock, "The reason I called this meeting is because of the fire," Rei started off, "I cannot get a reading from it, and haven't been able to all week. I fear that it might be an enemy."

She waited for Serena to say something. The blonde had her hands clasped in front of her, Darien reached to grab one of them, but everyone was surprised when she pulled away from him, "I see." She eventually said with hesitance but then Serena put her hand up.

They waited for her to say more, but instead Serena gazed up at the ceiling, as if willing it to suck her up, "Well?" Lita asked after another moment or two.

"Well what?" Serena responded looking at the brunette.

"Is that all you can say? 'I see'? What the hell is that supposed to imply?"

Serena looked at each of her friends, and sighed, "It is supposed to imply what it sounds like it implies."

"Serena enough of this." Luna demanded as she jumped up on the table followed by Artemis, not able to keep silent any longer, "Now what is going on with you?"

Serena was trying hard to not break, in fact she was fighting every instinct in her telling her to tell her friends what exactly was happening and why she was doing what she was about to do, "I am the one blocking the fire. I have been for quite some time. It is not an enemy." 'At least not yet,' she added more so to herself than out loud.

There was silence as she waited for the massive explosion. She looked at them, and they were looking at her: jaws dropped, eyes wide, and slowly veins were starting to pop from their heads. Her eyes were especially on Rei as she saw her friend's face start to turn funny shades of reds and purples. 'One, two, three, fou-' Serena's mental count was cut off by, "WHAT?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!" Rei was standing and shouting. In fact all of them were now standing and looking down at their princess.

"Rei I had too." Serena stated calmly not even looking them in the eye. Recently, she had learned that in the Silver Millennium her mother Queen Selenity had partial control of the fire, so it was natural that the power would pass down to the next heir.

"Bull shit!" Rei had yelled even madder that Serena was staying calm about all of this, "You had no right to do this! None!"

"I beg to differ." Serena stated back, not rising to the shouting match that Rei seemed to want to challenge her to.

"Serena, Rei is right. She uses the fire to see enemies approaching; so that we can prepare." Ami tried to explain and be the voice of reason as Rei moved away from the table to try and calm herself down so that she didn't end up setting Serena on fire (despite how tempted she was now).

Darien was beside himself; they were supposed to have this meeting as an intervention to Serena hiding something from them. Never in a million years did he think that this would be something she would do, "Do you realize how reckless this was?"

"Look I have my reasons that I do not need to justify to you. Any of you." She held up her hand to stop the onslaught of protests, "There is a new enemy approaching. I used the fire to show me that. It is coming soon, however I do not know why or when."

"You idiot!" Rei shouted again. She was about to shout more, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to sit down.

"Serena, just please get on with the explanation." Mina stated firmly as she kept her hand firmly on Rei's shoulder, ignoring the heat that was coming off the priestess.

Serena leaned back and said, "I did, in fact I am done with explanations."

"How the hell do you figure that?" Lita cut in again, "Sounds like we deserve more than that vague answer."

Serena sighed, boy it was like she was doing this a lot lately, well it's now or never, "I would think it would have been obvious. I blocked the fire from Rei so I can see what was happening. I saw a new enemy, and it gave me time to think." She paused and waited for someone's lightbulb to go off, seeing that there was no 'ah ha' moment, she continued with, "I am done. I decided that I am done and I'm going away."

Once more she started the countdown in her mind. With each passing number, faces were getting redder and jaws just continued to drop. 'One, two, thre-'

"WHAT?!" They all screamed.

"Why?!" Mina yelped.

"You can't!" Lita shouted.

"You cannot just quit!" Artemis yelled, speaking up for the first time this evening as Luna was in too much shock to say anything.

"How stupid can you be?" Rei asked betrayed, "You confirm that there is a new enemy and now you're bailing on us?"

"Where are you going?" Ami asked softly not willing to believe what she was saying.

"For how long?" Darien was the softness he thought this was a joke.

Serena got up and approached him choosing to ignore the other girls. She wanted to tell him the truth and hope he could change her mind, to tell her that everything was going to turn out ok. But she had to tell him the one thing that would ultimately break both their hearts, "I just cannot take this anymore. I'm not fit to do any of this." She waved her hands around the area.

Darien sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders and said, "Serena this is like another trial. We have overcome worse than this. Please do not say things like this."

'Damn it.' Serena thought, and suddenly she felt the pull in her mind that she needed to be strong, but the pain in his eyes was starting to give her second thoughts. She was about to give in when flashes of death and pain came to her mind. No, she will not let him break her, "Darien I am leaving."

"I'll come with you. You did not say that the enemy was coming soon. We'll come with you. To protect you." Darien said. He lost her many times, but not anymore. He would do whatever it took just for her to be with him.

The girls did not say anything, but watched. They did not like this one bit.

"You can't Darien. You guys can't. I realize now that I am not right for this type of thing. Where I am going is not right for you…any of you." Serena pushed his hands off her shoulders. She turned her back on them.

Darien ran in front of her and said, "Where is this coming from? If this was about Galaxia then we can talk it out. You don't have to put of this façade of fine and dandiness. We will not think any less of you if you tell us what is wrong."

It took all of her strength to not break down, but she couldn't…not yet, "Darien there is nothing wrong," to prove it she looked him in the eye and said the next sentence with as much venom as she could to make it believable, "I do not want you anymore."

There was stone cold silence as her words rang throughout the temple; the only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the fire that had roared to life in the midst of the pleading that was happening.

Darien was searching her eyes to see any sort of lie in them, but all he could see was the darkening of bluish black abyss of distain, "You…don't want…me?" he asked hoping someone would jump out and say 'April Fool'.

Serena looked at him as his face turned pale. She lowered her head and looked at the promise ring on her finger. She had not taken it off since Dairen had given it to her at the airport. Closing her eyes she slid the ring off. She took his hand and opened it to place the ring in his palm, "No Dairen…I don't."

Darien dropped his hand to his side. He did not even process what was going on…it was like everything in his body was numb.

The girls were watching the scene unfold. Was this really happening? Was destiny allowing this to actually happen?

It was at this moment that Luna looked outside when a gleam of silver caught her eye. She let out a small gasp and Artemis pried his eyes away from the devastating scene that was occurring, "What is it?"

"She is really telling the truth. That is her car out there." Luna whispered back devastated.

The girls ignored this exchange. Each one in turn not wanting to believe that this was happening to them. That somehow this was a sick joke created from the fates to test them, much like how King Endymion was testing Darien by sending him these dreams. Perhaps Neo-Queen Serenity was doing them same? If so, why?

"Well this is unbelievable." Darien whispered more to himself than to Serena, "Is there nothing I can say to change your mind?"

Serena shook her head, "No Darien. You and I know that once I make up my mind it's made up. Besides I'm tired of being something I'm not," Serena hated to see him like this, but this was for his own good…all of theirs, "I do not want to do this anymore so I am cutting ties with all of you. It will be better this way."

"No…Serena please…" Dairen croaked out.

"Time will heal itself. These wounds will heal. Besides you deserve someone better than me. I guess that is it," Serena turned and said, "Goodbye Darien. Take care of yourself." And she walked out. They heard the sound of an engine roaring down the street.

 _ **30th Century Crystal Tokyo-**_

Did she say it? Those three important words? She looked at her daughter and husband. Did she say those three very important words to them enough times, 'I love you'? She discretely looked at Endymion as he laughed at something Rini had said to him. 'I don't ever want to live without you,' she thought as she looked at him, attempting to memorize his features, 'you changed my life.' She wanted to cry, they had set a damn goal. They had worked so bloody damn hard towards it. Looking back, did she take enough time to look around and drink it in? To appreciate them in ways that they have deserved?

"Love?" Endymion called over to her as he and Rini stopped what they were doing when he noticed that Serenity had unshed tears pooling in her eyes.

"Mama?" Rini asked as she reached for her mother's hand offering her comfort.

Neo-Queen Serenity was silently crying now because she felt it before it even happened. They heard the screaming first. The whole palace was crumbling around them. In a swift move Endymion pushed Serenity and Rini aside as a pillar was coming down. The future was being destroyed.

Endymion griped his family tightly but he noticed that he was disappearing, "Daddy!" Rini cried out trying to grip on to him.

Serenity couldn't say anything, she felt her crystal's magic releasing the mental blockage as she too tried to tighten her grip on him. Looking into his eyes, she hopes that he is able to see the devastation in them.

It is like he is waking up from a dream into a nightmare. He could see in her eyes that she is sorry, and in the wake of this nightmare, he sees a flood of memories, but there was no time to convey any of this as the palace was shattering before them, "Serenity get out of here now!" As he yells this, he hopes that she could see the forgiveness and love that he has and always will feel for her, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Serenity grabbed Rini and led her out of the crumbling palace dodging the falling pillars. She did not want this to happen. All of a sudden Rini felt her hand let go of her mother's hand and looked. Her mother was fading, "Mommy!"

In the middle of the destruction, Serenity turned and saw why Rini had screamed and what she was pointing at. Looking down, she sees that she too is fading from existence. She runs quickly back over to her daughter, wishing she could have a bit more time. Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out the Time Key, "I am sorry honey. I cannot explain, but the past is in terrible danger, I need you to go." Rini was shaking her head, and Serenity could see that Rini was starting to fade as well, "Please Rini you must go now!" There was an explosion and they turned to see that Crystal Palace was nowhere to be seen. Everything was fading out of sight, falling into darkness, "Rini you must go now!"

"I won't leave you!" Rini cried trying to hold her mother tight and never let go.

In one final effort to save her daughter the Queen activated the Time Key. A portal opened up, "Rini I love you." She whispered. Wiggling out of her daughter's grip she shoved Rini into the portal. The last thing Rini saw was the looming darkness.

Neo-Queen Serenity stood tall as the last remnants of the future was being swallowed up by darkness, she ran through every moment in her head that led up to this. In the event that her past self should fail, she hoped she cherished every moment that had been given to her, because clearly one never thinks that the last time is the last time, you think there will be more, and you think you eventually reached forever, but unfortunately you don't. Serenity tilts her head back and welcomes the darkness that swallows her whole, all the while praying for forgiveness.

 _ **Present day-**_

Dairen just stood there. He had not moved since Serena walked out. He was numb, just plain numb…no other way to describe it. All of a sudden a portal opened and out popped an eleven year old girl with pink hair.

"Rini?!" the girls yelled in shock as they took in her seemingly battle worn appearance.

"Honey what happened?" Mina asked as the young girl appeared dazed.

Rini looked at them then to her future father. Darien did not say anything…he was still processing the conversation that happened, "Where is mom?" She asked in a stern voice ignoring Mina's inquiry.

Dairen did not answer. Rini took his silence as if this was his fault; she couldn't help, but say, "What the hell did you do to destroy the future?" It was then that everything registered that he opened his palm and revealed the promise ring.


	3. Chapter 3

Nope…I still owe nothing, not making money, not getting any fame or glory. Just a girl, a laptop, and an imagination.

 **The Crystal Wars**

Rini was in absolute turmoil as she just stared at Darien's palm that held a ring that she never saw her mother take off. Of course she wore (or had worn) her wedding ring, but when asked why she never took off the promise ring, the queen's response was, " _It is a testament that our love is eternal. Not even time nor space can destroy it._ "

This was the very reason that Rini for the life of her couldn't understand, why would Serena abandon them? She looked to the Inner Scouts this time, and wondered if maybe one of their jokes had gone too far, "What did you say to her?!" Rini shouted venting all her frustration out on them.

"Rini we didn't do anything!" Rei exclaimed back surprised that the pink haired girl would accuse them that this was their fault.

"Damn straight you didn't that is the whole point!" She paced around the area still not understanding what could have happened between her mother and the scouts, "We were happy then all of a sudden there was screams and the palace was literally falling apart! Daddy disappeared and so did mom!" Rini started to cry, "I saw her vanishing before she pushed me into the portal and then I came here to see you," she pointed to Darien, "standing here like a zombie!" Rini let out an aggravated sigh and started pacing around, like a caged lion again, "What happened?"

"We do not know exactly." Luna answered seeing the others were still too much in shock to explain their current situation.

Rini had sat down as the cats came over and comforted the girl. Lita was the first to recover and sat down again, "Everything seemed to be going ok, I mean Serena was defiantly different after the battle with Galaxia and Darien dying and I think at one point we were brainwashed, but-" Lita was talking fast until she was interrupted.

"Wait what? Back up, rewind, and freeze. Darien dead? Brainwashed? Galaxia?" Rini was confused, "What did I miss while I was in the future?"

"You did not hear about this? They do not teach you guys that Serena or rather Neo-Queen Serenity saved the entire galaxy literally by herself?" Mina asked amazed, wondering why Rini was not aware of the history of Serena's most fierce battle.

Rini had cocked her head to the side, which reminded Darien painfully of Serena every time she had been perplexed about something, "No they don't. There is one battle that is taboo to speak of. I tried to ask mom and dad, but they just get quiet and tell me to go play. Then I asked you guys, but you get quiet and tell me that it is forbidden to talk about."

Darien who had been silent sighed and spoke as if he was in a mist, "It started when I got accepted into Harvard in their medical program…" He told the story.

 **-** _ **Snoopykid-**_

Serena did not cry as she drove away from her home. She really hated to break their hearts like that but it was for their own good. She would be damned if they died again, because of their vow to protect her. She was not the same naïve fourteen-year-old girl. That girl died and there is no hope to bring her back.

She sped past the cars as she thought of the vision that drove her away from her friends. Unlike Darien, who had broken up with her over a dream, she was sure this one would come to pass. The vision showed her destruction of an apocalyptic magnitude. Serena shivered at the thought of seeing everything so desolate and barren, but she hoped that one day they would forgive her. This vision had been haunting her since Galaxia had been through. She knew that Rei had sensed evil the day Serena had started to blow them off. No matter how hard she had tried to hide her pain, her best friend saw right threw her. Serena knew Rei would consult the fire, so Serena started to block it. So at the meeting she had filled them in on the vision, leaving out her 'betrayal'.

This was something that they should not get involved in, when she herself did not know the full extent of the battle that was to come. Seeing her exit coming up she took it. Allowing her thoughts to drift towards her next course of action. She made a right once she saw a sign for a campground, and drove down the rocky road until she reached the parking lot. Placing the car in park, she started her hike down a trail that would lead her to a very familiar spot.

It was the lake that held so much meaning to her. The last time she was here was when Darien was abducted and brainwashed by the Nega-verse. She had known it was him who had summoned the lake monster. His eyes were so filled with hate it was unbelievable. She smiled and looked at the reflection remembering that day very well. Good times, good times. Not every day that she almost had to reveal her identity to her family or having to battle an actual spirit.

Sighing she looked out to the lake again. This lake held more secrets than Serena could count. It was the place that herself and Endymion use to meet. It was the place that he had given her the locket; but most importantly it had a passage to the moon…and that is where she needed to go, "Sailor Pluto, come forward." Serena ordered softly as she didn't take her eyes off the lake.

"Leaving us so soon Serenity?" Came a voice from behind her.

Serena smirked lightly, but did not face the stranger, "Judging by your tone of voice, you do not approve of what I am doing and think that I'm making a big mistake."

"Yes to both; in fact I had already let your future-self know that as well." Seeing that Serena was not acknowledging her, she let out a sigh, garnet eyes full of sadness, "Are you aware that Crystal Tokyo is no more?" Pluto asked in a rather disappointed tone, "Do you care that you hurt them?"

Serena faced the dark green haired woman, "Yes Pluto I am aware of both cases. I am aware of the consequences of my actions tonight, but I promise you that everything will be fine."

Pluto sighed, "Do not make promises that you cannot keep your highness." Serena looked away from her, "There are too many outcomes to this to not have a clear cut path." Pluto took a step closer to Serena and looked out to the middle of the lake, "When I saw your path to abandon the others…your future-selves disappeared and everything fell apart."

She was slightly pleased to see that Serena winced at this, and was encouraged to continue, "Everything is in utter chaos. You are lucky Rini made it out of there thanks to your future-self's forethought." Pluto nearly scolded.

Serena wasn't all that surprised by that fact, but was ashamed of herself for her actions that needed to be taken, "I felt her aura, I knew that she is arrived here; but my mind is made up. This is something that I have to do alone. I refuse to let you all die again." She whispered out.

Pluto didn't seem to hear the last part, or just didn't care, "I do not think you understand the situation very clearly or heard what I said about the future."

"I did hear you and now you have to hear me because the more we talk the less time I have. Now in about a few minutes, Mina is going to demand your presence to be with them. They are going to ask you some questions, and be relentless about it."

Just as the former neo-Queen had instructed her in the future, Pluto just stood there listening to Serena's every word, "You are not to tell them anything about where I am, what I am doing, or who I am going to see. Do I make myself clear?" Serena had asked very sternly, looking every bit of the future ruler she should have been.

Pluto stood at attention and nodded her head, "Yes I understand, but you know when all this is said and done, they may never trust you much less forgive you right?" Pluto asked solemnly.

Serena gave a small smile and crossed her arms, "I do not expect their forgiveness or trust. I just want them to be safe; all of you to be safe."

"What about if they ask about what is going on in the future?" Pluto asked, "There are too many timelines for me to certain as to what is happening."

"Then use your discretion, but be aware of the timeline. You are to let me know if anything changes not them." Serena added sternly.

"Understood." Pluto wanted to add something more, but she heard a summons, "I think I hear Venus calling me." She added after a moment of two.

"Then go;" Serena stated nodding to her friend, "Remember who is still in charge if anything should happen or if you are unsure of something."

"Right." Pluto nodded back. She saw Serena give her a forlorn smile, eerily similar to that of the former future queen. Serena brought the Silver Crystal forward and the lake swirled open and Serena stepped in, vanishing as the portal closed leaving Sailor Pluto alone before disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke.

 _ **Meanwhile-**_

Rini sat and just stared. The girls and Darien had explained everything she wanted to know, but now she regretted it. She could tell that Darien was hurting, more so than the break up nearly two years ago that had been orchestrated by her father, King Endymion. She recalled the devastation that both her past parents when through, especially her mother. Now though it was like a reversal of places, her mother being the one to cause this pain; but it seemed that slowly some of her mother's actions in the future have started to slowly make more sense.

The girls had remained mostly silent as Darien had explained the situation of the Galaxia episode, with the girls filling in where he couldn't. They watched the young girl's reaction to everything, still wondering why they hadn't talked about it with her in the future; or better yet, why Serena (rather Neo-Queen Serenity) never had discussed her greatest achievement with her daughter. However there were more pressing things to worry about now. It was their turn to ask her some questions, so Rei started off with the obvious, "Rini," Rini started out of her thoughts as she looked at Rei in acknowledgment, "if your mother and father disappeared, and all of Crystal Tokyo didn't you?" Rei asked as gently as she could.

Rini looked at her and took out her necklace. It was a crystal heart with a crescent moon and rose almost inside one another, "On my birthday, Mama gave me this necklace. She had told me it was blessed using the Silver Crystal, using some of her life energy in the event that if anything were to happen to her in the past or if something were to happen with Crystal Tokyo, I would be safe and would not disappear." Rini explained softly putting it back inside her shirt, then taking out the Time Key, she continued explaining, "Mama had given me this just before she had disappeared; she must have knew that something was going to happen, because as you all remember Pluto is the only one who can hand these out. Just as Crystal Tokyo was vanishing, she activated it and pushed me through."

The girls and Darien looked at each other, Luna and Artemis having left to go to Mission Control, trying to find anything on Serena or the mysterious enemy that she had mentioned that was coming, "Well we really need answers." Ami said after a moment of thought, "Did your mother say anything before she vanished?" Ami finished asking who was recording everything on her computer.

Rini thought and shook her head, "There was really no time for her to explain. All she said was that the past was in terrible danger." Darien frowned, and pulled her close, trying to offer her some kind of comfort.

"Wow Serena…way to be vague." Lita said under her breath as she crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

Mina thought for a moment and realized that they did have something in common, both their present and Rini's future, "Pluto." Seeing the perplexed looks, she exclaims, "Sailor Pluto!"

"Pluto? How can she-" Before Darien could finish his question Mina cut him off, "Sailor Pluto by the order of Sailor Venus, leader of the Sailor Scouts, I demand your presence!"

In a flash of purple light Sailor Pluto appeared holding her garnet staff smirking at the Scout of Venus, "Well Mina who knew you could take charge and be serious?"

Mina smiled back and flipped her hair behind her, "I have my moments…" Then regaining seriousness, "but for right now you have some explaining to do."

Pluto nodded seemingly defeated to the overall attitude that she knew this was coming, "I will answer what I can or allowed to."

Lita looked at the Outer Guardian with speculation, "Allowed to? Who is stopping you?"

"Serenity." Came the simple reply. Pluto stood in front of the group, leaning on her garnet staff, mentally preparing for the onslaught interrogation.

"What do you mean that Serena ordered you not to say anything?" Rei asked snapping Pluto out of her thoughts.

Pluto stood there and sighed, "I am not at liberty to say. Even though she is not here, the power she has still lies within her blood, so she is still in charge."

"Where is she?" Darien asked sternly finally coming around to his old-self, "Tell me."

"I cannot say." Pluto said just as sternly.

"As future Neo-King of Crystal Tokyo I demand you tell me at once!" Darien barked at Pluto getting pissed as the seconds ticked by. He was tired, mentally and emotionally tired, and he refused to play anymore games.

Pluto snorted and said, "You cannot tell me what to do _**Prince**_ Endymion of _**Earth**_ ," she emphasized the Prince and dominion title, "Serenity is the only one I listen to because she is my _**Princess**_ of the _**Moon**_ ;" she paused for a moment as she took a deep breath to calm down, "besides as of this moment Crystal Tokyo does not exist."

"What?! Mommy and Daddy are gone forever?" Rini asked sadly as she recalled the final moments that she had with her mother and father.

Everyone stared at Pluto expecting her to reassure the young princess that this was not the case, but none came, "Small Lady I'm sorry, but Serena's choice has so far destroyed the future that we have come to know that should exist. I mean if it was not for you mother giving you some of her life essence then you would not be here, despite the Time Key that I gave her to give to you."

Everyone nearly blanched at that as Pluto made it sound like this was something that Serena had purposely planned out, "Then what is going on in the future?" Rini asked disturbed by Pluto's announcement.

Pluto did not say anything at first. She was debating on what to say to the young girl. So far she has told the truth to all of them, but now she did not know, "Is it that bad?" Rei asked as she tried to turn towards the fire, but was disturbed that it looked smaller, almost extinguished in nature.

"Is Serena in trouble?" Mina asked this time when Pluto hesitated a bit, as if the weight of Serena's order was forcing her to not say anything.

At this Pluto said in a definite tone, "Not at this moment no."

"At this moment?" Darien asked skeptically choosing not to believe anything Pluto was saying, he felt Rini flinch beside him at his tone.

Ami, having closed her computer now, looked at the Time Guardian and asked softly, "Can you please just show us the future?"

Pluto closed her eyes and pitched the bridge of her nose thinking quickly. There really was nothing against Serena's order if she found out how much they knew, that way she could also keep to the rules of what not to tell. First things first though, "How much of this matter do you know?"

Rei looked at the Outer Scout and scoffed, "We only know what Serena told us before she left."

"Yea which is pretty much next to nothing." Mina commented sitting in her chair with her arms folded staring up at the ceiling.

"What did she tell you?" Pluto asked again, trying to not sound too annoyed, _you so owe me Serenity_ , she thought as the Princess's smiling face came to mind. However she did have somewhat of a murky understanding what the Princess would soon be going through, and if she was being honest she'd rather deal with Serena's fallout with the Inners than what is to come.

"Danger was approaching, a new enemy was coming. That she could not take the fighting anymore. She told Darien that she could no longer be with him and gave the promise ring back." Lita explained, giving the very brief rundown of the events and looked at the reincarnated Earth Prince, who kept his gaze firmly ahead at the Outer Scout.

Pluto nodded along, it was just as she figured. She didn't allow herself to feel threatened as Darien locked eyes with her; as if challenging her to not tell them anything. She looked at each of them before landing on the young princess. Well Serena did say use her discretion and right now, she couldn't see any reason why she couldn't disclose what they were asking for, "Ok," she relented, "I see multiple paths. They are all pretty much the same, murky and muddled."

Pluto paused and walked around them towards the fading fire, staring into its small flickering flames, "There are only two paths that are better than the others. While mainly blurry and muddled in nature, it is fading. Crystal Tokyo," she heard Rini gasp and slowly, turned and faced them, "with a few minor changes." Pluto started with what she thought was the good news, apparently she was wrong.

"How minor is minor?" Darien growled threateningly getting up and shielding Rini from the Guardian of Time.

Pluto pondered this for a moment, "Well, Rini is still born, you live relatively happily, but Serena is a strict no tolerance queen. She is not as forgiving as she used to be."

They shook their heads at the thought of the happy go lucky meatball head being strict with no tolerance, "That is not minor. That seems a bit more than 'minor'." Darien growled out as he ran a hand through his hair, "This is Serena we are talking about!" He exclaimed, "Our bubbly, Meatball, innocent, Serena! The girl who sees the good in everyone and everything?!"

The girls pondered his words, and realized he was right; she was their Serena! Her attitude mainly being carefree, slightly immature, and a bit of a 'crybaby' at times. Memories playing in their minds of her using every opportunity to blow off schoolwork to play video games, and read manga. However she was incredibly loyal, always being friendly towards people, compassionate, and empathic. How the hell could she be anything less than forgiving?! "Darien is right Puu." Pluto looked at Rini as she stepped around Darien, "This is my mother. She is well known to be a wise ruler and a beloved Queen. She is known as being benevolent and forgiving. As for her being strict? Yes sure as my mother she is strict with me. I mean I do not blame her for it; I am supposed to one day rule, but really Pluto. This is mom we are talking about."

Even as Rini said this, she could see the conflict in Pluto's garnet eyes. Her mother's words rang in her head when she had first awoken as a Sailor Guardian, " _You are my only daughter, you have always been precious to me_." Rini shook her head again, "Surely you are mistaking the timeline. Mom cannot be as bad you say she is."

Pluto shook her head, "I am not mistaken. Neo-Queen Serenity is still all of those things you described, but she is far less forgiving to certain offenses; especially when it comes to her loved ones I am afraid. In fact without so much as realizing it, you know this to be true to some extent."

Rini's eyes widened in surprise at this statement, but as the other scouts mulled her words over, they could kind of see that happening. All this time after recovering from the Galaxia fiasco, were they perhaps seeing a preview of this supposed queen that Pluto described?

"What's the other?" Ami asked quietly as they were all dreading the answer.

Pluto shook her head not sure how to say it, but decided to be frank, "Ever hear of the Apocalypse?"

 _ **On the Moon-**_

Serena stood before the ruins of the palace. It was a disaster almost beyond repair, but repairing it was the last thing on her list. She stepped into a ruin that she remembered to be the meditation room. Unleashing the Silver Crystal she muttered a prayer then in a flash of white light it was restored to normal.

The room was silver with a wood floor finish. There was a little fire place in the middle of the room. This was the original great fire. It was a gift from Apollo himself that allowed any master seer to see the future. All around the walls were pictures of how the Moon Dynasty was established. The aura was calming and Serena sighed. It was just as she remembered it. She would always come in here after a hard day to just think, mediate, or just to be in the company of Sailor Mars. Sitting on one of the cushions she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, allowing the faint anonymous voices to fill her thoughts:

When Serena re-opened her eyes, she found herself standing in a dark room surrounded by whispers. She knew where she was, she knew who was in the room with her: The Ancients.

A woman in a white dress looking to be in her mid-thirties with long silver and silver eyes came forth and said, "Serenity, my granddaughter, I knew you would come." The woman said standing up to greet her. Diana the first Queen of the Moon.

"Yes we knew you would come and join us." A man was standing before her now, Ares the first King of Mars.

"No offense Ares, but I did not know I had a choice." Serena replied a tad bit rudely to him, after all it was them that sent her the dreams telling her to abandon her friends for those few months after Galaxia to come see them.

"Do not fight; why can't we all get along?" Aphrodite asked in a following manner eerily like her granddaughter, the first Queen of Venus.

Ares and Serena looked at each other and sighed. Diana smiled softly, "I see you two are going to be friends."

Serena and Ares shook their head and Serena said, "Grandmother, may we please just go over what we need to."

Diana's smiled faded and she nodded her head, "Very well. The others will not be joining us today though they give their apologies for driving you away from your friends."

Serena honestly did not want to be reminded of her betrayal, but she listened anyway as her grandmother continued, "We sent you the visions because we believe that an ancient evil is going to resurface at any giving moment."

Aphrodite took over the explanation when Diana looked at her, "This enemy is the sign of an impending danger that awaits. There is little to no time to prepare. This enemy is so powerful that not even the silver crystal can help."

Serena was in disbelief that she blurted out, "Wait a damn minute, you sent me visions that possibly killed my relationship with my friends, you cannot even give me any more detail on when to expect this 'ancient evil', and now you tell me that a crystal that I've possessed since the fight with Queen Metalia when I found out I was a reincarnated princess is good enough to fight this supposed evil? Just what the goddamn hell is coming?!"

"Do not raise your voice to us!" Ares shouted back at her, "Show some respect for a powerful being!"

Serena was about to give a retort to him, but the room suddenly brightened and Diana motioned her to sit, "Allow us to start in the beginning. It all started with the darkness…"

 _ **At the Shrine-**_

Darien stood there with his mouth open and looked at Pluto, "Apocalypse? What the hell?"

Pluto sighed this was not going to be easy to explain, "In the symbolic sense, a terrible apocalyptic event is going to unfold. This second road is steadily becoming less muddled and murky."

Seeing that all eyes were on her, Pluto turned her back to them and stared once more into the fire, "There is a darkness that is going to descend upon us that has been thought to have been vanquished when our ancestors fought it over centuries ago;" waving her staff, the flames flickered to life, Rei staring in astonishment as she is seeing looking as lively for the first time in over a week. However the image it showed was anything lively; it was a dark, desolate, decaying wasteland, "This is what the Earth had looked like, in fact all the planets looked much like this, but the Earth was by far the worst."

They had all came over to her at this point, and all gasped at the sight that the fire was showing them curtsy of Pluto, "What could have done this?" Mina had whispered feeling sick to her stomach.

"Evil did this." Pluto responded solemnly, "Where do you think the demons come from? How do you think they formed? Souls who did extremely terrible things beyond forgiveness in their lives can only turn into demonic zombies to serve evil in their afterlife."

Their faces paled as Lita gulped out, "So what we fight and vanquish are…human souls?"

Pluto nodded and said, "Essentially yes."

"Ok so what you're telling us is that the universe was enslaved by evil?" Ami asked still disturbed about the demons they fought on a daily bases, as she summoned her Mercury computer to start typing everything that was being explained to them.

"Correct, that is what I'm telling you." Pluto confirmed with a nod.

"Ok so are you also saying that this evil has the potential to come into the future and destroy it?" Ami asked again wanting to clarify as to what she was being told.

Pluto thought and asked, "Do you want hypothetical or actual?"

"Enough with the bull shit please. We want the actual answer." Lita demanded losing all patience, and Darien backed her up with a firm nod that he too was over all the nonsense.

Pluto once again thought and said, "I cannot answer that. That question has to do with Serena; and for your information I may be telling you more than I should."

"Great so I guess you are going to say that we have to stop interrogating you?" Darien asked sarcastically, trying to not let Serena's name cause a stabbing sensation in her heart.

Again Pluto took a deep breath to steady her annoyance at the Prince, "No actually I am going to continue. Earth as well as the other planets still had good people so there was an uprising. The ones who escaped fled to the outskirts of the universe and formed an alliance."

 _ **With Serena-**_

"An alliance?" Serena asked confused after the disturbing images they showed her vanished from her eyes, "What alliance was this?"

"The Golden Alliance." Ares responded more calmly as she looked at the young girl, "We formed it to beat the evil that was over taking our planets. Your grandmother escaped the Moon, I escaped Mars, Endymion the first escaped Earth-"

"I escaped Venus, Hermes escaped Mercury, Jade escaped Jupiter, Saturnus escaped Saturn, Ouranos came from Uranus, Poseidon was from Neptune, and lastly Hades came from Pluto." Aphrodite explained sadly reflecting on the memoires.

Diana nodded, "We all came together and formed the Golden Alliance to defeat the chaos and destruction."

"But how did you do it?" Serena asked leaning forward looking at each ruler, "If what you are saying that this thing is coming back and the Silver Crystal was not going to work; how did you do it?"

"We created a powerful crystal called the Eternity Crystal." Aphrodite answered her, "It was made up of all our powers so that all of us could use it. It had enough power that we sealed all the chaos and destruction away forever…or so we thought."

Serena nodded along, somethings she had wondered about since she became a Sailor Scout was starting to make more sense. How else could these villains that they faced have enough momentum to gain their power in a seemingly little amount of time, "So how did it get out?" Serena asked slowly.

"Well the natural balance was disturbed greatly after your recent battle with Chaos…" Diana sighed not wanting to tell her granddaughter that she-

"You did not destroy Chaos." Ares finished when Diana trailed off.

They watched as Serena's face momentarily froze. Then her complexion started going pale as her mouth opened in shock. Mentally they started counting down: One-Two-Three-Fou-

"KING OF MARS SAY WHAT NOW?!" Serena jumped up and started pacing, "What do you mean that I did not destroy Chaos?!"

Diana sighed thinking the Band-Aid was off might as well roll with it, "When you went up against him you actually just weakened him. Now he will return with vengeance and more powerful than any enemy you have ever fought."

"He will try and release the very forces we sealed away." Aphrodite said regretfully as she watched the young woman sadly.

Serena sat in silence and said out loud, "I thought this was just going to be an enemy like we've faced. The visions were just a scare tactic. Never did I think…" She paused and looked up at the void that was the ceiling, "So we are screwed then. It's done; everything we fought for was a waste."

Ares snorted and stood over Serena, "With that attitude yes we are. You are Sailor Moon, the Champion of Love and Justice. You are supposed to be the light of the universe and save humanity and rule over Crystal Tokyo."

Serena stood up and matched his scowl on his face, "Was you mean. I was Sailor Moon, I was supposed to save the universe and humanity and rule Crystal Tokyo, but you made me leave them! So I guess the keyword of the day is W-A-S! WAS!"

Ares was now pissed, "So you are telling me that my granddaughter is right?! That you are a whiny, pathetic, blubbering crybaby?!"

"I AM NOT A CRYBABY!" Serena yelled, but she felt tears starting to spill over her eyes.

"God damn it Serenity! Are you telling me that you are going to sit here and let the universe die?! Let them die?!" Ares shouted at her.

Serena looked at him then at the other two women who was not looking at her. Serena looked back at Ares, took a deep breath, and asked softly, "What do you want me to do? I do not have the Eternity Crystal. You guys do and you guys are probably stronger than me or us. Why can't you stop this? You said you did it the first time."

"We never said that we had the Crystal." Ares responded just as softly giving Serena a soft look.

Serena looked at them stunned, "I am sorry, I thought you said that you do not have it. I must have heard you wrong or something…"

"We had to destroy it." Aphrodite explained hating how the girl's face fell as she sat back down in her seat.

"During the time of the treaty to unite the planets, the King Endymion the first got greedy. He tried to steal it. So we had him exiled from the alliance forever." Diana explained sadly, hating how this first meeting with her granddaughter was about something so tragic.

Serena mulled this over, never having heard this story before; but now having a better understanding, "So that is why communications to Earth was forbidden." She whispered, "But then-"

Ares shook his head as he retook his seat, "We did not destroy it completely though. More like split it into separate diamonds."

When he said this Serena groaned, "Why does this sound like the Rainbow Crystal fiasco?"

"We did this so no other incidents occurred and it would not fall into the wrong hands." Diana explained looking at her granddaughter apologetically.

"Ok so why don't you summon the diamonds and use your powers to get them back?" Serena asked not seeing the issue. Surely if the diamonds were connected to them, then they should be able to retrieve themselves. She wasn't really getting the problem, much less why she was needed at all.

Aphrodite shook her head, as if knowing where her thoughts had gone to, "Because we do not have our powers anymore to do that, we gave up our powers when we relinquished the throne to our children."

"So the how am I-" Serena started to ask.

"You do not need their powers to summon the Eternity Crystal. You just need to get the diamonds and combine it with the Silver Crystal and you should be good to go." Aphrodite explained in a tone of cheeriness.

Serena thought then said, "Ok so I need to collect these diamonds and use the Silver Crystal to call forth the Eternity Crystal?"

"Yes." Diana said simply.

"Then I can fight Chaos and seal him away once and for all?" Serena finished asking feeling margin of hope for the first time in a while.

"Not right away no." And there goes the bubble of hope with that small statement from Ares, "The Eternity Crystal is not like the Silver Crystal."

Aphrodite continued the explanation before another shouting match could occur, "It has the power to control the user. You need to have self-control otherwise you can do something you did not intend to; especially if Chaos should fill your mind with evil thoughts."

Serena, while deflating a bit at all that this would encompass nodded in understanding and responded, "Ok I think I understand. How do I find the diamonds?"

"The Silver Crystal will guide you. Now go and do not let anyone know what you're doing. If you run into the scouts do not give in. They will know when the time is right." Diana said hugging Serena, "You have done us all proud." Serena smiled and watched them disappear.

In a flash of light, she found herself coming back into her body and opening her eyes to see that she was back in the mediation room. Sighing while taking one last look around the palace she teleported back down to earth. She walked to her car and sped off.

 _ **The Shrine-**_

Pluto had left them after giving them a very brief, yet somewhat informative history lesson saying that if she had more information she would inform them, but Darien doubted it, "Ok what do we do from here?"

Everyone looked at Ami to see if she had any idea since she was typing everything that Pluto had said, "I don't know."

Rei sighed and suggested, "Well why don't we just get some rest and come back to it tomorrow?"

Everyone nodded. Darien looked at Rini. She had fallen asleep during the history lesson so he picked her up and held her sleeping form tightly knowing that she was the only link he has with hope and more importantly Serena.


	4. Chapter 4

**Review Q &A's:**

Haruka-usagi-forever: First off, love the name. I like the way Haruka was portrayed in the Crystal anime. Thank you for the reviews and to answer your question: yes everyone is going to be in this fanfic.

Elmund9: The Galaxia war was the taboo war no one spoke of. I didn't think it was something they wanted to tell Rini about given that everyone minus Serena died in it. I figure that would be their most painful memory they wouldn't want to have revisited under any circumstance. Serenity had used the crystal to block their memories of what happened in the past, remember the future isn't always set in stone. Multiple things could have changed, and it did.

Nexus258: Here is more!

 **Disclaimer:** (Checks bank account) Nope not any richer than before, so no I do not own Sailor Moon.

 **The Crystal Wars**

 _ **Somewhere in the Null Void-**_

It sat in waiting for many months, gaining more strength by the days. So far all its plans have ultimately failed, having underestimated the Silver Crystal. Queen Metaria, Death Phantom, Pharaoh 90, Queen Nehellenia, and finally even the great Sailor Galaxia. Although seemingly banished into this caldron of hell, he had time to think; re-evaluate so to speak on his methods of incarnation; starting with Sailor Moon's Sailor Guardians

He felt it the moment it had happened. A cosmic shift in the balance of the Time and Space the moment that Serenity abandoned her friends, weak and defenseless. Ever so slowly, feeling the water out, he had been sending the youmas after them; each time absorbing some of their powers from each battle. Now that he was stronger, he started thinking of phase two: the Eternity Crystal.

He had been keeping an eye on Serenity, but that was slightly harder to do. He was aware that she was actively searching for the pieces to the Eternity Crystal thanks to those damn Ancients that sealed him away the first time. So he had to combat it somehow; and thankfully he knew just the way. He laughed. Serenity was so naïve. Did she really think it would be that easy to get rid of him once and for all? Ha! A plan had started to unroll. He knew what he had to do. He knew what was going to happen. And for that he would get what he wanted. Laughing to himself he set out to put his plan into motion.

 _ **Tokyo, Japan-**_

There was nothing that could fill the hole in his inner being. Darien had not slept in a month and it was starting to take a toll on him. At one point Sailor Mini Moon, aka Rini, had to save him in a battle with a youma, then he got yelled at by the girls. So not fun. Was this how Serena felt in the beginning, after he had saved her? The girls yelling, and being told off?

In fact speaking of youma, they have been getting out of control. Pluto had been merciful to them (or perhaps it was Serena who had given her orders) gathered all the Outer Scouts to help. These things have been getting stronger and faster by the day. It wasn't like any of the youma in the past. These creatures seemed too well calculated out, which is also a cause to be mentally drained.

Darien sighed as he entered the apartment. He could not get Serena out of his head. Pluto had been coming to them for the past month, doing her best to keep them updated with what she could. He had kept asking her about Serena, but she never told them anything except that she was ok. He was about to open the refrigerator when he heard the beeping of his very own communicator that Luna and Artemis gave him; it had taken time to get used to it since he never use to need one because he always had Serena to let him know there was a battle through their bond.

"Dairen we need help now!" Rei's angry voice greeted him.

Her yelling at him was really starting to grate on his nerves. It was no wondering Serena was in a constant mood after a battle, "Fine I'll be right there!" He yelled back, damn youma.

"Hurry, I don't think Rini's shield can last any longer!" Communication was then disconnected. He slammed the refrigerator shut, really wishing Serena was here. As he went to the window, transforming into Tuxedo Mask he wondered what she is up to.

 _ **Paris, France-**_

It had been a month since Serena had turned her back on her life. She had abandoned her friends, family, and part of destiny. She had wanted to start training, which she accomplished for the most part on the spare time she had while searching for the diamonds that she would eventually use to create the Eternity Crystal. Every night, during mediation, she would allow herself to be transported to the moon where the Ancients would assist her in her training. Ares, being a deity of Mars, also the god of War started her battle training. They had given her a new (yet ancient weapon) called the Infinity Sword.

They had wanted to make sure that she knew other modes of combat, not just solely rely on her powers. Serena was always impressed when she would wield the sword. In her quiet moments with the blade in her hand after a hard day of Ares's harsh and brutal work out, she would smile and imagine the faces of her friends. They would be shocked if they saw her.

Diana had also started her training with the Silver Crystal as well. Teaching her all of the secrets of wielding it to its fullest potential. 'Something that my mother should have taught me,' Serena had thought on more than one occasion, but then promising herself that if everything should work out, then she would not leave Rini to figure things out on her own. Pretty much all of this was to plan ahead, to have every basis covered to the best of her ability. However during these trainings, the Ancients have all reiterated the same point: she really needed the Eternity Crystal.

She had been all over the place, hoping that the Silver Crystal would guide her to a clue as to find the shards of the Eternity Crystal, but so far nothing definitive had come to her. Eventually, bringing her to Paris where she was currently renting a small flat. Pluto had come to visit her on a few occasions, making her feel not so alone. She had asked her to keep an eye on the girls and Darien to make sure they were safe. Setsuna had assured her that were ok, but they were in pain. Serena had sighed as she poured herself some coffee and went over to the window to glance at the scenery, knowing that the Time Guardian was trying to guilt her into going home, but she had lasted this long and there was no turning back now.

She then caught her reflection in the mirror over the small fireplace. No there was never going back. She had defiantly changed over the course of the month. Her hair has stayed permanently silver, her eyes also seemed to have a gleam of silver in them, and it looked like she had aged quite a bit. Even as she looked closely at herself, even knowing that this was now her, she was barely recognizable to her own eyes. Turning away to look back outside to the morning Paris view, she snorted a bit. The city of love did not actually feel like love, although if she would have to hazard a guess, she would have to feel love to feel the love the city was famous for. Taking a long sip of her coffee, she shook her head. It was too early in the morning to be contemplating the enigma of hidden meanings. Sighing she went over to the sofa and flipped on the TV to watch the news. She had gone to pick up the language (well all other languages) easily, most likely thanks to the Silver Crystal, so she understood what they were saying, "Good Morning Paris! In our top stories today the famous Sancy Diamond is making its last appearance in the Louvre. We will go to Thomas for more information." The woman said happily.

When she said 'Sancy Diamond' something within her jolted, urging her on to listen very closely, "Thank you Joan. Well today is sadly the last day that the Sancy Diamond makes its appearance in the Louvre. It has been here since 1962 and will go to India tomorrow. Just a little history about the diamond before we depart it has been in France since 1570 and had since been sold to many people of French royalty. It will be sad to see the diamond leave. Joan?" Thomas ended.

Joan nodded and said, "Thank you Thomas. Now you can go see the diamond in the museum between nine this morning until ten tonight. There will then be a ball as a way of sending the diamond off. In other news-" Serena muted the TV and got up off the couch.

There was humming all around her as she, was this the sign she was waiting for? Looking back out to the window, she nodded to herself. She had to get dressed, because she now had a date with a diamond.

Later in the morning, Serena walked through the halls until she came to one hallway that was swamped with people. Pushing her way through the crowed she gasped at the sight on the display, The Sancy Diamond. It is almost colorless, but there is a very faint pale greenish-yellow tint that gleamed in the light. Serena could not take her eyes off of it. All around her people talked, but their voices were drowned out by a large hum.

"So are you part of the Eternity Crystal?" She wondered out loud to herself softly so that no one would hear her.

The diamond seemed to gleam even more as if it recognized her being its new owner and replied with a vision. Serena gasped as she saw the vision. It was the Ancients creating the Eternity Crystal. Flashes of color and strong auras of power filled her senses until she saw all the diamonds being put together.

When the vision ended she looked at the diamond in amazement, "Ok so you are part of the Crystal…now how to get you out." She again said more to herself if anything. She looked around as if deciding to do it now, but the diamond showed her another vision.

Serena watched as people danced and then flashed to the Sancy Diamond that was still on the display. She saw only two guards standing in front of the case. When the vision ended Serena smiled as a plan formed in her mind. Turing to walk out she faced the diamond one more time, "Catcha later Sancy."

 _ **Rei's temple-**_

"That was pathetic! You are all pathetic!" Rei hollered at the group sitting around the table.

The outers had joined the meeting and Haruka was not happy, "Excuse us Pyro, where was your sorry ass?" she faked thinking then said, "Oh yea! Knocked out by a tree!"

"At least I was fighting and on time! What about you guys?!" Rei yelled back angrily.

"We were in the middle of a concert." Michiru stated calmly, as she placed a hand on her lover's arm in warning.

Rei was still fuming and before she could open her mouth Rini stepped in, "Hotaru and I were still in school." Hotaru nodded along with this, "It really isn't all that easy to sneak out anymore."

Rei groaned and sat down. This had not been an easy month. It was a never ending case of fighting and the youmas seemed to come one after another in a matter of a day. It also did not help that when Serena left she seemed to subconsciously take some of their powers with her. Pretty much they were all drained: physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.

Mina sensed her distressed. She had taken the lost as hard as Darien, Luna, and Rini. All of the sparing matches that were held between Rei and Serena let Rei vent her feelings, but now it seemed that they were the new targets. Before Mina could say anything to defuse the tension Rei put her head down and said, "I'm sorry."

Everyone looked at each other and looked back at Rei, "Between these never ending battles and trying to look into the fire day after day and seeing nothing is taking a toll on me."

Mina got up and knelt next to Rei, "It's taking a toll on all of us. No need to feel sorry. We understand."

"It's still no excuse. I cannot see anything nor can I sense anything. Normally I sense impending danger, but I can't." Rei responded looking behind her towards the fire, flickering weakly.

Darien looked down and whispered, "You still can't sense her?" He had been trying to sense Serena's presence, but there was nothing. It was almost like she wasn't on Earth at all.

Rini looked at Darien and saw how drained he looked. In fact she took in the scene and saw all her friends drained and tired. Even in the future they never looked like this. Tired, yes, but nearly dead? No.

Rei looked up and said, ""I'm sorry Darien. She may be blocking me again."

"You haven't sensed her at all either?" He directed the question to Michiru, he had also asked the Guardian of Neptune to look into Serena's aura as well.

Shaking her head she said, "I cannot sense people. Only turmoil in the waves." She replied sadly.

"For myself it is just the changing of the winds." Haruka answered before the question was asked, "What about you? Don't you have that connection with her?"

"I wouldn't have asked you all if I could." Darien responded, trying to keep his own temper in check, "I don't know anymore. If she did transform at all I can't feel it."

Hotaru looked down, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Her opening lines coming to her in a haunting manner, " _I am an emissary from the abyss of death. Protected by Saturn, the Planet of Ruin. I am the Guardian of Silence, Sailor Saturn_." She often was self-conscious of the planet that she guarded over, it was no secret that the other scouts (minus perhaps Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Sailor Mini-Moon, and Sailor Moon) were wary of her. Bringing silence though was not her only power, she had visions as well. Though her visions as of late had been disturbing, so much so that Setsuna had been with her one night after Haruka and Michiru left for a racing torment, Setsuna had to forcibly wake her up from a terrible one. It had been so frightening that she had broken down in the Time Guardian's arms and had told her everything she had seen. Setsuna had disappeared for a moment or two after that and came back, telling her what exactly was happening. Hotaru had said they needed to tell the others, but Setsuna had told her not too; that this was the way it had to be…for now.

There was a group sigh in the room, "So what did Pluto tell you?" Lita asked Darien leaving out Serena's name.

"Just that she was ok." Darien answered back. Everyone nodded taking the queue that the meeting was over.

 _ **That night in Paris-**_

Serena was in a dark cloak. She ran across the roof tops with the full moon in the background. She ran until she saw the Louvre in front of her. Lowering her hood, she stood in the shadows and watched as people walked into the museum. Looking around she made her move. Summoning the crystal she teleported into the museum.

She found herself in the bathroom. Serena put her hood back up and she thought really hard and muttered, "Please Sancy Diamond show me if the cost is clear." A vision flashed. No one was in the hallway except the two guards, sighing Serena walked out.

In the hallway two guards were guarding the diamond; hearing a noise the one guard spoke, "Hey Bobby what was that?"

The one guard named Bobby listened and replied, "What are you talking about Chase? I don't hear anything."

Meanwhile in the shadows Serena listened to the conversation. Looking around she spotted the security camera. Focusing on it she raised her hand then snapped it shut into a fist causing the camera to be crushed and fall to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Bobby asked turning to see the camera lying on the ground.

"I told you something fishy was going on." Chase replied walking with his companion.

Bobby inspected the mess further, "I do not like this. Call the Captain."

As Chase was about to reach for his walkie-talkie, Serena took out her gun and stepped in pointing right at the men, "I would highly advise you not to speak into that. Hand them over now along with your weapons."

The men looked at her and shakily put their devices and guns on the floor and pushed them toward her, "Very good. Now open the case and do not try anything funny."

Chase gulped and went to the case and opened it. Serena walked over still pointing her gun at the men; she wrapped the 55.23 carat diamond up in a cloth, and then she put it in her pocket, "Thank you gentlemen. Now so you cannot tell anyone about me…" Serena lifted her hand up and put her palm up to the men's faces and said, "Mind crush."

She saw the men freeze then they fell to their knees collapsing on the floor with a dazed look. Serena lowered her gun and placed it in her pocket, teleporting out of the museum.

 _ **Two Months later in Tokyo-**_

"Hey guys I'm calling a meeting. There is something we need to discuss." Ami said timidly walking into the Arcade toward Rei, Mina, Lita, and Darien, "I think we made a really nasty connection to the youmas."

Rei was about to open her mouth when Ami shook her head, "No just gather the others and meet at my house. My mom is out for the weekend so we won't be over heard." Then she hastily ran out.

"Well that was odd." Lita said getting up regretfully looking at her unfinished sundae she had ordered.

"Yea Ami has hardly spoken to us in a while." Darien responded draining the last bit of his coffee.

Since the fighting began, Luna and Artemis had needed all the help they could get, so Mina had decided to reassign Ami to Mission Control to help them in figuring out where the youmas were coming from and why. She was only really participating in the fights if absolutely necessary. Ever since then, it was very rare to see the cats and their friend, except for when they had classes. Even then, Lita and Mina would only see her for maybe ten minutes at lunch, but then she would go to the library to research. No word had reached them about any progress, and when they would go to visit it was clear that they were just as frustrated as they were, so everyone figured it was best to stay out of their way.

"I was kind of hoping for a day off since we haven't had a fight once today." Mina said taking her cell phone out to call everyone and then they walked to Ami's house.

Once they reached the house they discovered Luna and Artemis sitting on her bed looking the computer screen. Ami did not even bother to look up as she got right down to business, "Ok here is what we discovered. The youmas have been getting through from a portal that is connected to the North Pole."

"Hold on! Are you saying that the Dark Kingdom is back?!" Rei asked astounded as they all jumped to look at the computer screen.

Ami shook her head, "No. Beryl and Metallia are gone for good. Besides these youma are powerful. The thing is the aura that surrounds them. I have set up this program on my computer that allows me to download information from my Mercury computer. I have recorded our fights since we started for future training methods. Now this is from our most recent fight," Ami played the video and Haruka winced as she watched herself get thrown halfway across the park, "Look at the black aura that is surrounding the youma. See how black that is?"

Everyone nodded not sure as to what she was getting at. Seeing their faces Ami stopped the video and pulled up a new one, "Now I know we all 'died' when Galaxia stole our star seeds, but I managed to recover the film that was from the TVs in that storage area where we were hiding. Watch Galaxia." She played the video. Rini and Hotaru shuddered as they watched Serena cry out for Darien when he was pushed into the vortex, "Notice how the color is exactly like that of the youma?"

"Yes, but what does this have to do with anything?" Mina asked very confused.

"I cross referenced the auras and found out that they are both linked to Chaos." Ami said very seriously turning to face them.

Before any other interruptions could be made Luna stepped in, "That is not all," she turned to face Artemis and he nodded, "we have reason to believe that there may also be an agent of Chaos around stealing diamonds."

"Stealing diamonds? What does that have to do with this?" Darien asked stunned. Why would Chaos want with diamonds?

The three some sighed and Ami asked, "Did you hear about the diamond heists at all?" They all shook their heads and Ami sighed while she flicked on her TV, "I recorded it this morning."

They all watched the tape, "Good Morning Tokyo. I'm Lisa Sims and this is our top news story. Three famous museums have been caught with faking their most precious diamonds; leading to the museums reporting those diamonds having been stolen."

A picture of the Louvre appeared in the corner of the screen, "Three months ago the first diamond to be stolen was at the Louvre Museum called the Sancy Diamond. It has been in France since 1570 and is estimated to be 55.23 carats, worth well over $100,000." Then the picture changed to the Millennium Dome, "In the next month after the first theft was the Millennium Star Diamond in the Millennium Dome in London. Weighing at 203.04 carats, this diamond was created in 2000 and is made up of a rarity of other blue diamond's which is worth well over $580,000 per carat." Then it changed to the picture of the American Natural History Museum, "And lastly just this month in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City the Centenary Diamond was found gone. Found in 1948 post World War II this diamond is the most expensive diamond yet 278.85 carats and is insured for $100 million."

The picture faded leaving just the reporter on the screen, "The authorities have been working together and each believes that they have a linked crime. The guards that have been on duty have all been found with a dazed look on their faces and know nothing of what had happened. Every museum in the world has been warned about these thefts and is asked to guard their collections with care." Then the picture of the Tokyo Natural History Museum appeared in the corner, "In our own Tokyo Natural History Museum, where the Heart of Eternity is currently on display on loan from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, is now being put on high alert. Worth well over $16 million dollars and 27.64 carats, it was discovered in the South African Premier Diamond Mine."

Ami stopped the video and Luna spoke, "We did a little research about this and discovered that these diamonds make up a very powerful crystal known as the Eternity Crystal."

"The Eternity Crystal was created by the Ancients so they could stop the destruction and create the Silver Millennium." Artemis jumped in now, "But Endymion the first got greedy and wanted the Crystal's power. He tried to fight them for it and lost, because of that the Crystal was destroyed."

Lita, Darien, Mina, and Rei sighed, "Are you saying that this is the search for the rainbow crystals all over again?" Mina cried in frustration.

"The what?" Haruka, Michelle, Hotaru, and Rini asked together confused by this.

"Long, drawn out, pain in the ass, story." Rei groaned out.

"Yes except that the possible enemy has three of the five elements to put them together." Luna said as if there was never an interruption.

"Three of the five? What and where is the other two?" Darien asked

The three some glanced at each other, "Well the Heart of Eternity is here is Tokyo and well…" Ami glanced at Luna again who sighed, "Serena has it. It's the Silver Crystal."

"Oh great! So we have to protect this and find someone who does not want to be involved?!" Haruka yelled throwing her hands in the air, turning her back to them.

"Yes we do. We have to find Serena." Ami said calmly as their faces fell.

"How do we find mom?" Rini asked softly.

Ami looked away, "That part I haven't figured out yet." Seeing their looks she shrugged,  
"I don't know."

Unbeknownst to them, standing in a faint outline of the shadows was Sailor Pluto. She had told Mina that she would not be able to come to the meeting; claiming she couldn't get away from the University. However she had felt a pull, almost something saying she had to be there; but remain unseen. Now she knew why, 'I guess this is the development Serena was waiting for.' She thought to herself. Waving her staff, she disappeared to warn the princess of these troubling events.

 _ **Two days later-**_

Serena sighed as she had walked the streets of Tokyo. She had just gotten in the night before. Setsuna had found her on the steps of the Moon Palace and had informed her that they found out about the Eternity Crystal, but they think that she was an agent of Chaos which is why she was stealing them. She laughed at the ludicrous idea, however Pluto didn't find it so amusing and in a dry tone had told her about the Heart of Eternity being in the Tokyo Natural History Museum. That is where she was headed, to obtain the last diamond.

Nobody recognized her so that was a benefit and she had sensed no immediate danger so that was great also. She sighed as she soaked up some of the sun day dreaming of the past as she would've complained to her friends of the nice day it was to be doing school work. That is until she was knocked out of her nice day dream when she bumped into someone.

"Oh excuse me. I'm sorr-" Serena looked up to see a dark set of familiar eyes looking back in shock, "Darien?"

"Serena?"

Serena barely recognized her prince. In fact she could hardly speak to him at all. Darien's feelings were mutual as he looked at his princess all he could croak out was, "What are you doing here?"

Serena shook her head to clear her mind of all the thoughts to come up with a lie, "Sight-seeing."

Darien saw right through it and dragged her to an alley, "Serena please we need you. Youmas are attacking left and right. Chaos is back; our daughter's life has shattered to pieces. We are no longer in the future. Crystal Tokyo is gone." He was pleading with her to try and explain the situation that she had left them with.

Serena did not look at him. She had of course known all of this but she still had to play the part, "Darien I'm sorry but I want to be part of this no longer. I had meant what I said."

"But you came back." His voice was soft and fragile. He looked pale, thin, and ragged. He could almost pass as a hobo if he had wanted to.

"Only to have closure. That is my reason." Serena said looking at him. Darien refused to accept the answer and if he was mistaken she looked like she was just as a mess as he was.

"We cannot keep doing this Sere. This fighting is killing us. Ever since you left it has been killing us physically, mentally, and emotionally. We need you." Then to add salt to the slowly opening wound, "I need you." Darien pleaded, his voice was strained. He had not pleaded to anyone like this since the doctors had told him about the accident with his parents. He had pleaded to the doctors to stop joking that he wanted to see them.

Serena shook her head. She hated to do this, but her mask had to stay on, "Dairen please ok? I do not want any part of this."

"What about our daughter? If it was not for your future self Rini would be gone." Dairen insisted hoping she would rise to the bait. This was his trump card; using their own future daughter against her.

'The daughter card, of course he would play that,' Serena had thought bitterly, "Darien listen to me well. I am going through things right now that I need to work out. I'm sorry about everything but I know this for sure: I am no longer Princess Serenity, and I am no longer Sailor Moon." She purposefully left out her not being her future self, no matter what, she could never deny that. However something had changed in the months she had been gone and what she said was true, she felt she was really no longer the reincarnated Princess or the Champion of Love and Justice, "All of this is not my problem. You handle it!" Serena snapped out as she felt a tight grip on her heart, losing all patience.

"What do I tell the girls then? What do I tell Rini?" Without so much as waiting for an answer, he said, "Sorry but I saw Serena and she has completely abandoned us oh and by the way sorry Rini but Serena is no longer your mother?! Is that what you want me to tell them?!" Darien yelled. He had never yelled at Serena before. It scared him.

"Do they know I'm here?" Serena asked as it dawned on her that if Darien had found her by chance, then what are the chances of the girls seeing her? She had taken extra care to not be noticed by them. When she walked past the Arcade she had not seen them in there, but did something slip by her? Were they out on the street and she was not paying close attention?

Darien looked at her and thought for one moment he saw a flash of fear cross her face, but he dismissed it, "No."

Serena sighed in relief, the regained her composure, "Then tell them nothing. They are not to know I'm here. I will tell them when I am ready." Serena slipped past him and paused. She wanted to kiss him, hug him, something; anything. However she squared her shoulders and purposefully walked away.

Darien for his part, just watched. He wanted to run after her. Transform into Tuxedo Mask, scoop her up, and force her to listen to him; but he didn't. He just stood there as she turned the corner. It was then that his body decided to move and he ran. Once he got to the entrance of the alleyway, he looked up and down the street not seeing her. So he took the only action he could, he punched the brick wall.

 _ **Later that night-**_

A full moon was in the background illuminating Serena who was in her black cloak. She had her hood on so no one could see her face. This time she had her sword on her instead of her gun. When she had gotten to her apartment the Sancy Diamond gave her a vision of what was to happen tonight. The curator came out of the building and locked the door. Off to her right she saw movement in the trees and to her left she saw shadows running through the woods below. The shadows stopped and watched as the curator got into his car and was out of sight. Serena jumped down fully aware of the sense she was being watched, when she reached the door she teleported herself inside.

Mars watched as the black hooded figure went to the door and disappeared. Taking out her communicator she spoke, "I think that is our villain's assistant, they just teleported inside. Tux did you find a different entrance?"

"Yeah here on the roof. There is a vent." Tuxedo Mask reported back. There had been a meeting before hand and they had decided to scope out the museum. He had wanted to mention his meeting with Serena earlier, but had for some reason decided against it.

"Personally I do not think that this is our guy." Rini's voice spoke up now as she moved toward her father.

"What makes you think that?" Mina asked as she too moved towards the roof top.

"Just a feeling."

Mars scoffed and retorted, "Well feelings can be deceiving. Trust me I know." Ever since Serena left she has become cold hearted and snapping at everyone around her. It was just as bad as when she was an outcast all over again, "Mercury is there any movement inside?"

She heard taping then a response, "The security camera has been broken so I can't get a clear image but I am picking up voices. I think we should move."

"Ok move in!" Mars commanded and they all met on the roof and jumped through the vent.

In the meantime Serena did as she always done: threaten the guards and telling one of them to give her the diamond. Once that was done she erased their memories of the incident and they fell to their knees going into a deep sleep. She had to hurry and get out of there this time before-

"Put the diamond back now and turn around slowly." Ordered a slow but authoritative voice.

Serena smirked but she did not turn around or put the deep blue diamond back in its case, "Isn't a simple diamond heist a little beneath you Sailor Scouts? I mean think about it Sailor Mars, being reduced to stopping a cat burglar? Cut me a break."

"So you have heard of us then. I suppose then you realize that if do not surrender the diamonds you have we will be forced to fight you." Mars said annoyed at the lack of respect this villain was showing them.

Serena kept her smirk up, some small part of her thought that this was kind of fun, "I know more about you than you think, but you also must realize that I will not surrender the diamonds. I need them." Came her reply trying to think of a plan. She sensed that it was only the Inner Scouts and Darien was somewhere in the shadows waiting for his signal to come out.

"Why do you need them? Oh wait we know," It was Venus who spoke this time, "You need them to give to Chaos so he can summon the Eternity Crystal."

Serena let out a laugh. Still finding the joke funny, "Me? You honestly think that I am working for some psychopath? Who says blondes are dumb? Venus you are funny."

"We don't think." Serena let out a little shiver at the next voice that spoke, she didn't need to turn around to know who this belonged to, "We know." Jupiter was pissed, if it was one thing that scared her besides a pissed off Rei, it was Lita.

"Look just give us the fucking diamonds and we promise that we will let you live." This was coming back to Mars. She had heard Ami typing on her laptop to try and find her weak point or at least evaluate the situation.

Serena thought for a moment and at least keeping her hands up, slowly turned around this time, keeping her head bowed and said with her smirk coming back, "See I can't do that, because if I did then I will have to just come back some other time and steal them again. So much planning went involved and the timing." She saw their faces becoming slightly confused, almost questioning why they were still talking about this, "The whole process was so much of a pain in the ass that it sucked, and just between us," she mocked whispered, "not in a good way." Their faces blanched now, and Serena added in a more normal tone, "Besides I really do not think that your princess would appreciate being bait."

It was as if someone dropped a bomb in the room, "What have you done to my mother?!" Rini shouted stepping forward.

"Ah Sailor-Mini-Moon, I was wondering if you were here." Serena greeted with amusement, she had sensed the girl's presence, but of course they would try to keep her hidden in the shadows.

"I will not ask again. What the hell did you do to my mother?!" Rini was beyond furious and she had enough of the bull shit.

"I did nothing…not yet anyway." Serena narrowed her eyes, not that they could tell seeing as her head was bowed. All that they had to go by was her tone of voice, "I know where she is. I know that she is safe for the moment." She added answering the unspoken question, "In fact I'm surprised Endymion did not tell you that she is here in Tokyo."

She lifted her head now, they could not see her face but Rini saw pierce silver eyes glowing from inside the dark hood, "So Tux boy would you so kindly come out of the shadows and care to explain something to our friends?"

Dairen came out of the corner and presented himself to the Scouts who were still staring at him and Serena, "How did you know?" Dairen asked her directly not looking at the angry girls behind him, he had a rose ready to throw if this person tried anything funny.

Serena just smiled and decided that they were still talking, so she dropped her arms, making sure though to keep her hands in sight, "I have my sources; like I'd tell you though."

Dairen was now fuming but before he could say anything Mars yelled, "Screw this! Sailor Scouts atta-"

"Hold on Mars!" Serena commanded. Silence welcomed her, though no one knew why, "I really do not want to fight you." Everyone now was gawking at her, "What I mean is I do not want to fight in here." Serena clarified slowly.

"Why not?" Ami asked seriously confused.

"I would rather not see this fine establishment of artifacts be destroyed in your efforts to try and apprehend me." Serena reasoned, "I mean of course there is always a chance you could just let me go."

"Yea that is not happening." Lita stated flatly, "However to clarify you would rather go outside and fight instead of just surrendering to us?"

Serena smiled lightly; but all they saw was her glowing silver eyes shine in amusement, "Well surrendering to you wasn't one of my options I was giving you. I was hoping you would let me go, since I thought our little conversation proved I am not a…what did you call me? Agent of Chaos?" Then speaking more seriously, seeing that they were not as amused as she was, Serena answered Jupiter's question, "I see we must do this I guess. Just like I told you, I promise that I will not try and run." They just stared as if debating to trust her.

"You are a villain," Serena flinched at Venus's tone, "how can we trust you?"

Serena raised a finger and attached the satchel that held the diamond to her side and slowly pulled out her sword, which they all gasped. It had a blue handle with a gold dragon etched into the hilt; coming out of its mouth was a blood red ruby, "This use to be my grandfather's sword. He was a first generation swordsman. As cliché as this may sound I give you my word on his sword that I will not do anything until we get outside." This was the truth. Serena had been told by Diana that this was her grandfather's sword that he was the head general of the Lunarian army.

Everyone stared and Lita said rather impressed despite the situation, "Wow that's deep."

Darien sighed and made his rose disappear, "Ok. We will surround you until we are outside."

Serena shrugged, "Fair enough."

They walked outside and went into the woods as to not attract attention. They were now in a circle with Serena in the middle. She looked at them and said, "I appreciate this really, one last chance though to let me go."

"I am afraid we cannot do that; but this is your last one to give us the diamonds and surrender to us." Darien spoke up.

As the hooded figured looked at him, he thought he saw disappointment in the silver eyes, eyes that looked so familiar the more he stared into them. It didn't help either that the full moon almost made them glow even more, "I guess we are at an impasse then, because I cannot give these up." Then looking at the girls she said, "So truce is now off and you may have the first move."

"Thank you for your generosity!" Mars shouted and they all lunged at her.

Serena read their movements. She dodged all their attacks and blocked every move, "Is that all you got?" Serena asked rather bored, "To think I could've escaped in the museum; shame."

"Fire surround!" Mars shouted.

"Love me chain!" Venus shouted.

The fire and the chain were aimed right at Serena but she dodged and it hit Darien square in the chest and he was blasted backwards into a tree.

"Lighting strike!" Jupiter shouted.

"Bubble blast!" Mercury fired.

Once again Serena dodged and the attacks and they hit Mars and Venus. Serena took the chance at their confusion, placing both her hands up she shouted, "Bind!"

Jupiter and Mercury's bodies snapped together and they fell to the ground, "Well that just leaves one more." Serena turned to look at Rini.

Rini stood confident and shouted, "Tell me where my mom is!"

Serena smirked and Rini flinched at her silver eyes. This was not someone to be trifled with but she did not care. If this psycho knew where her mom was then she damn well tell her, "Aw does Sailor Mini Moon miss her mommy?"

"Shut up and tell me where she is or so help me I'll-"

"You'll what? Use the pink crystal and heal me? Take whatever evil that is supposedly inside of me and vanquish it?" Serena mocked, "There is nothing for you to vanquish. You cannot hurt me with that silly little trinket you possess."

Rini growled and got into her stance, "We'll see about that!" A pink aura surrounded her and she shouted, "Pink Heart-"

All of a sudden Serena saw a vision from her connection with the Sancy Diamond: Man surrounded by a dark and sinister aura about a few yards away. He fired a dark energy bolt it hits Rini. She sees Rini fall eyes glaze over.

"No." Serena whispered. She left because of this. She left because she was tired of seeing people die. That is when she saw the man. He was getting ready to attack, "Rini look out!" Serena shouted in warning.

Rini was about to finish her attack when Serena grabbed her and twisted her body so she took the attack. Rini subconsciously held on. This felt familiar and she flashed to the fight with Rubeus and how Sailor Moon protected her.

Serena and Rini crashed to the ground with Serena on top of Rini, "Well, well am I too late for the party?"

The spell that had been placed on Mercury and Jupiter broke and they could move. Darien had healed somewhat as he got up from his position on the tree while Mars and Venus got up too.

The voice that spoke was the man with the black aura and Serena was up and panting. The black energy beam had hit her in the back…but if she was in any pain she did not show it, "Well Chaos have you sunk so low as to possess a mere human?"

The man looked like he was in his mid-twenties, blonde, and muscular. His eyes were pitch black and he looked like he was in pain. Chaos laughed making the man's voice sound mechanical, "What about you? Have you gotten so low as to hide in a pathetic cloak Serenity?"

"Say what?!" The group shouted in shock.

"Mom?" Rini whispered in disbelief as she looked up at her hood enemy/savior.

Serena smirked from under the hood and ripped the cloak off of her. The sword was attached at her hip; her silver hair was down, her eyes glowed silver. She was in black jeans with black boots and her t-shirt was low cut to reveal her flat stomach, "You had to spoil the surprise huh?"

The man laughed again, "Actually I made it better. Nice little reunion wouldn't you say?"

Serena grinned, "My choice of words would have to be interesting. So care to be vaporized now or now?"

Chaos had his own smirk, "I would actually like never. I know you have been collecting the diamonds to summon the Eternity Crystal."

Serena's smirk turned into a glare, "Yea and I will not give them to you."

Chaos laughed a chilling laugh, "Nor do I expect you too. I have my own Crystal that is even more powerful than the Eternity Crystal. In fact it was thanks to you that I have enough strength to summon it."

"What are you talking about?" Serena asked, swallowing a lump in her throat, subconsciously moving so that she was in between her friends and the fiend in front of her, hand twitching towards the hilt of the sword. The group behind her just sat and watched like a tennis match. They were too shocked to even form words.

Chaos smirked even more. So she had called him out hoping it was a bluff, but really it wasn't. He could feel the vulnerability that the girl was hiding. He felt it all along, even though his main focus was on her protectors he had been watching Serenity along. Every weakness and locked feeling was going to spill out and she would eventually break; they always break, "You mean to say that the Ancients never told you that there was another Crystal? That Sailor Galaxia kept it to herself?"

Now confusion was plastered on Serena's face. Rini watched her mother closely. Right now she should be screaming. Saying things like: 'screw him talk to us!' Or 'Hello! Remember us?! Your friends and family?!' She was at a lost, but right now she even looked at the girls and her father. They seemed even more lost than she was. What hell was going on?!

Thanks to the Heart of Eternity, Serena felt emotions radiating off her friends: tiredness, confusion, relief, and pain. She was surprised that anger was not on the list. She figured she was in trouble, but it was too early to tell just yet. As far as Chaos was concerned she was starting to feel angry. She wanted to summon the Eternity Crystal right then and there and vanquish his sorry ass for good, but she left the other diamonds in her hide out for safe keeping. So instead she unsheathed her sword and made sure her friends were behind her. They were defiantly in no condition to fight, "I do not know what kind of game you intend to play, but if you do not mind I will kill you now."

Chaos laughed, "Then I suppose you do not want my host to live. If you kill me then he dies. Besides I have some vital information, there is another crystal. It is called the Crystal of Discord. So you see where I am going with this?"

Serena did not want to answer instead she shook her head and said, "I do not give a damn what you say."

Chaos looked at his opponent and shook his head, "I can see that you really want to fight me. In fact do I sense a need for blood to be spilt Serenity? To think I would live to see the innocent Moon Princess spill blood for a second time..." He trailed off.

The atmosphere had gone deathly cold and it was not because of the slight breeze that had blown but the sinister look at Serena's face as she growled dangerously, "I will not let you harm them again."

"That was not me Serenity. They wanted it, I read their crystals. All emotion locked up in them just happened to burst at the moment. Besides it was rather entertaining to watch." Chaos said as Serena was ready to charge at him. He wanted to end it now. He could end it now, but he decided to have a bit more fun. He wanted her to break so he said, "Before you make a foolish error allow me to say that I did not come to fight you."

"And why not?"

"Because killing you now would be easy and besides I do not need the Heart of Eternity to see that your protectors want to have a conversation with you."

Serena did not look back. She couldn't look right now otherwise she would lose it. She kept the façade up for this long. Sighing she loosened up her guard but did not lower her sword. Chaos watched closely and finished with, "I came to give you that warning. I knew you would come back sooner or later, but be forewarned that I will not make the same mistake twice. The next time you see me, you will be walking in the Valley of Death," he smirked, "I will be the tour guide." With that he disappeared taking the host with him.

Serena let out a sigh and placed the sword back into the sheath. Darien stepped forward, "Serena what-"

"Silence." Serena did not mean to bark that out as an order, but her mind was now in over drive and senses were alert.

"Now hold on! Who the hell are you to waltz back into our lives and start ordering us around?!" Rei shouted while the girls nodded their heads.

Serena spun around to face them eyes still glowing intense silver which they all gasped, "I know I do not have the right to tell you this, but we have to move and I am asking you all to trust me right now." She held out her hand and thought of her hide out. A swirling vortex appeared and the group gasped, "Please we have to leave now! Get in!"

"No way in hell am I getting in without an explanation Serena!" Rei shouted again angrily.

Serena was getting aggravated and said, "Damn it Mars do as you are told to do! Get in!"

When they did not move Serena waved her hand and a powerful force pushed them into the portal. Serena jumped in and when the portal sealed at least twenty youma appeared out from the clearing. Chaos shimmered into the center of the circle and laughed ordering the youma to attack the city.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Crystal Wars**

Mina, Rei, Darien, Lita, Ami, and Rini landed flat on their faces on a hard rocky surface in a pile on top of each other, "Move, you are crushing my spleen." Mina stated in a groan as she tried to move underneath Rei's weight.

"I would like to, but Lita's foot is crushing my kidney." Rei groaned out as she also tried to shift herself.

Lita groaned, "Sorry, but Ami's elbow is digging into my back."

"Rini's foot is digging in my shoulder blades." Ami stated back wincing.

"Darien is crushing me!" Rini yelled as her father's weight was sandwiching between Ami and himself.

Darien was still dazed and dizzy from everything that has happened, "Sorr-"

"GET OFF!" The girls yelled, and he immediately rolled off of them, helping each one stand up once he righted himself.

The girls were dusting themselves off, and Rini took the time to look around at their surroundings, "Where's mom? Where are we?"

They looked around and noticed the ruins and then looking into the distance they see a familiar planet, "Look, Earth." Lita pointed out.

"So that means we are-" Ami was answering back.

"On the Moon." Mina finished.

"How the hell Serena manage to get here without the Sailor Teleport?" Rei questioned out in awe.

Darien took a step over to Rini and placed a hand on her shoulder, almost to steady her shock and give him some grounding as well. He hadn't really been to the Moon, not since his previous life on the rare occasions he would sneak in to surprise his Princess. In this life only in visions, would he get a glimpse of the former magnificent kingdom, "So if we are here, then where is Serena?" He asked repeating Rini's second question.

No sooner did he ask that question, a portal again opened up, and out of the swirling vortex, Serena appeared with her cloak on, sword and satchel attached to her hip; "Someone call me?" She asked smiling lightly at them. No one was smiling back at her though, and she coughed, "Ok tough crowd…"

"Seriously? You disappear for over three months, no word on where you have been, stealing diamonds, and you kick our asses; and that is all you can say to us?" Lita demanded out slowly as she stalked over to her, almost intending on plummeting her to the ground.

Serena, for her part at least, had the decency to look somewhat abashed at this, "Well you knew about the diamonds, so there is telling you on where I've been."

"Don't fuck with us!" Lita yelled back, "You think that just because you're the fucking heir to the Silver Millennium and the future queen of Crystal Tokyo you can just do whatever the fuck you want?! Just who the fuck do you think you are?!"

On any normal occasion it would be Rei yelling at Serena. On any normal occasion Serena would cower behind Darien complaining that Rei was being mean. But this was not any normal occasion and Serena was not going to cower, instead she stood her ground and side stepped Lita saying in a dangerous growl to signify that she was done teasing, "I would greatly appreciate it that you would lower your voice and not use profanity in a sacred place." Then looking at them she explained, "You already know where you are, and as such will do well to watch your tone. I will explain everything to you, now follow me please." Serena turned her back on them and started to lead them over to the only decent looking building that was still remarkably standing.

Darien slowly started to follow when Rini pulled away from his grip, when he suddenly turned back to look at the Earth, "Wait! Stop!" The girls stopped and looked at him expectantly, "We have to get back to Earth. The youma-"

"Will not be a problem." Serena said softly as she came to his side. She had started to reach out to touch him, but froze for a moment and allowed her hand to go back to her side.

Darien felt hurt that she didn't try to touch him, but did feel marginally better when she gave him an easy smile, "How do you figure?" Rei demanded as the shock started to melt away and allowing annoyance to come to the forefront of her emotion as she crossed her arms over her chest defiantly, "We've been fighting them without you for over three months like Lita said. Wouldn't we know better than you Diamond Thief?"

'I deserve that,' Serena thought sadly, but still gave her friends the same smile, "I placed a protective barrier around the spots Chaos has been using to send them through; and based on the pattern of strategy he has been using, I figured out other potential ways he could send them and sealed those off as well." Seeing their amazed looks she continued, "In other words it should not be a problem while we are not there." She then shrugged her shoulders, "Besides we are not going to be away for very long." Everyone noticed the pronoun she used in her explanation, 'we'. A small spark of hope seeped through their minds, however they didn't allow this to bring them too much comfort, but nodded along with her explanation anyway.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Ami asked as they started walking again towards the building. She was amazed at the forethought and the planning it must have taken to learn and achieve that knowledge, something that Serena was not known to do.

Serena's smile fell a bit, "All will be explained, but let's just say I've learned a lot living here."

"You've been living here?" Darien asked as he jogged to keep up with her and found himself at her side before slowing to match her pace.

"For the most part when I wasn't hunting for the diamonds, this is where I've been hiding out and doing some training as well." She responded as she looked at him, smile coming back looking into his wide blue eyes. Eyes that matched the planet that she would fondly observe from her room of the palace. Serena was filled with the sensation to kiss every part of his body that was reachable.

She was pulled out of her reverie when she sensed everyone was going to bombard her with questions. Stopping for a quick moment at the entrance to the mediation building, she said, "I know that I have a lot to discuss, but I would rather do it all at once so let me get everyone here first. Where is Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru?" She didn't want to summon them if they were in the middle of something with the public; however this was really important.

Mina stepped forward and said, "We gave them the night off. We figured we can apprehend the Chaos's-" she stopped when she was about to agent, referring to that person as Serena, so she back tracked a bit; "the suspect in the diamond heist ourselves."

Serena was grateful for Mina's tack, but she knew she was still in deep water with her blonde twin in everything, but blood, "Ok but that still doesn't-"

"They wanted to spend some family time." Rini offered up coming to stand next to Darien as she looked at her mother's past-self. However looking closely, she could see that Serena resembled more like the future queen than her own previous identity, "I think Hotaru said they were renting one of the cabins in the mountains."

Serena smiled softly, "Ah ok." She wanted to hold her daughter so badly when she saw Rini's eyes becoming down casted and forlorn. It was almost like-no it was like betrayal. 'I will explain everything, and I will do whatever I can to make you believe in me again', she thought to herself as she looked at her daughter's distraught face, and watching as Darien laid a hand on her shoulder.

For now though, she had to focus on the task at hand. Serena started to pace as she thought about what she wanted to do. The group watched her closely and observed their friend's behavior. They were all secretly glad that Serena was back, but they would not let her off the hook that easily, "Right," she said to herself as she stopped, finally coming to a decision, "ok follow me."

She finally led them inside the meditation room. They gasped at how glamorous it was on the inside compared to how it looked from the outside. They couldn't take their eyes of the gleaming silver walls and the polished wood floor finish. For Rei this room was increasingly familiar, "What is this place?" She gasped out as she saw the little fire place in the middle of the room.

"This is the mediation building." Serena said softly as they came into the center and sat around the table, "This was where the original great fire was lit. It was a gift from Apollo himself that allowed any master seer to see the future." All them they admired the walls where pictures of how the Moon Dynasty was established hung in grandeur. Rei took a deep breath, feeling the calmness that she hadn't felt in months, "This was your area Sailor Mars," Rei looked at her friend now, eyes wide, "I would sometimes join you in after a hard day of Mercury's lessons, or after Mina and Lita's hard trainings. You more or less taught me the art of mediation and how to find my center." The girls were all wide-eyed, they thought they had all their memories back from their previous lives.

Once again, before the questions could assault her, she motioned to the table and they sat. While she remained standing, she summoned her staff and called out, "I summon the Outer Scouts Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto!"

In a flash of white light the four scouts appeared, "What the hell happened?!" Haruka shouted quickly looking around, "I was beating Setsuna!"

"No you weren't! I was winning!" Setsuna calmly stated back.

Michiru laughed, "I believe I was winning."

Hotaru laughed her own soft laugh, "You all are wrong, I was in first place. Mama Michiru was in second, Mama Setsuna was in third, and sorry Papa Haruka you were last."

"Last?! I think you are mistaken! I am a famous racecar driver, I couldn't be last!"

"What happened?" Mina asked wondering how they weren't noticing where they were or who they were with.

Hotaru looked at her and said, "We were playing Mario Cart. Papa Haruka was losing."

"I never lose!" Haruka crossed her arms and scoffed, "I think you were looking at the screen wrong kid."

"I think Papa Haruka was looking at the wrong screen and being a sore loser." Michiru whispered to the group, causing Setsuna and Hotaru to laugh now.

Haruka, for her part looked betrayed, "Hey! You are supposed to side with me!"

Serena made a cough sound and they twisted to see her. Before they can blurt out anything Serena held her hand up, "Please I will explain everything; just have a seat."

Warily they glanced at the Inner Scouts and sat. Serena sighed and began to pace around the room and she spoke, "Sailor Pluto knows almost all of this already, and so does Sailor Saturn," they all looked to the Time Guardian and the Guardian of Silence, "they were under my orders to not say anything to any of you. So please I ask of you to not berate them."

Noticing the tone and the overall unfamiliar etiquette that Serena was coming off to them, they group remained silent and stopped sending accusatory glares to Pluto and Saturn; although Rini did send something of a look to her friend that clearly read 'we are talking later', before refocusing on her mother, "Before I open the floor for questions allow me to say this," She looked everyone in the eyes, "I will answer all your questions openly and honestly. I will not beat around the bush. I will not ask for your forgiveness. I do not expect one nor do I deserve it."

The group around the table watched almost in awe at Serena's proclamation. They were not expecting her to even say that. Sure she had them worried sick and they did feel betrayed, but to openly say such things was unthinkable, "I am also aware of the fact that you are all bound to me by a pledge. If you choose to, I will be more than happy to break that pledge and you all may go live normal lives; all I ask is that you ask your questions and allow me to explain."

This had hit home for them. Serena was willing to actually cut the pledge they had made in the Silver Millennium and they could be free. Rei gasped as this statement hit home to her. She looked at her best friend in a new light. How long has it been since they shared a friendly carefree argument? Where did her best friend's gullible carefree nature personality disappear to? The person standing before them was not the same girl. Instead a woman who has seen so much that was no longer innocent to the dark life that befell her when she was fourteen, eyes dull and dark watching ready to accept whatever punishment they would give her.

Lita watched in amazement as Serena's voice was heavy and filled with grief and defeat. She had not heard her sound like this. Serena was always bubbly and her laughter was contagious. Where was the girl that always craved for her cooking? Suddenly she regretted blowing up at her only a few moments ago.

Ami was shocked at the responsibility that Serena was willing to bear. It was almost painful to realize that Serena was willing to let them leave. She was of course upset, but to jump to conclusions about wanting to stay with her was unthinkable.

Mina barely even heard the words that Serena spoke. She was still taking in the appearance of her princess and friend. Serena was tired looking and did not look eighteen at all. She looked more like a middle aged over tired-over stressed adult who took on more than she could handle. The anger that Mina had felt before vanished…instead she felt sorry for Serena.

Darien's mind could not even function. Sure he was not bound by a pledge, but still he was bound by his heart. What if Serena took away that? How could he live? He barely made it through the three months while she was gone, how can he survive an eternity?

Rini could not possibly comprehend the emotions that were running through her. Happy that her mother was back, upset that she had left them in the first place, gratitude for saving her, mad that she had insulted her, but most of all relieved. Maybe things will turn out the way they were supposed to…hopefully.

Aside from Setsuna and Hotaru, Haruka and Michiru had not heard the full story. They only heard the cliff notes version, but that did not stop them from feeling dejected. They just sighed. Michiru sensed the turmoil that was to come and Haruka felt pissed at the situation in general. Pissed at the Inners for not stopping Serena and pissed at Serena for flying off the handle. Hotaru was more or less just as relieved as Rini, probably more so that she didn't have to hide her secret anymore.

"What about Luna and Artemis?" Mina asked as she looked around for them, "Are you going to call them too?"

Serena scratched the back of her neck awkwardly and gave them a sheepish grin that they were more familiar with, "They already know. I caught up with them at Mission Control after your meeting to plan to ambush me." There was a new meaning to the old saying 'Kitty got claws' in Serena's book, "Needless to say thank goodness for super healing abilities." There was an uneasy, sheepish laugh that escaped her as she recalled Artemis and Luna's reaction, "I will not tell you their decision just yet, I want you all to make up your own minds after our talk. They will not be joining us because along with the barriers I put in place, I wanted them to be on look out in Mission Control as an extra set of eyes."

"You told them before us?" Ami asked voice filled with hurt.

Serena did not meet their eyes, "I only told them first because I knew what was going to happen. No, that does not mean I spied on your meeting," she looked at Rei and Mina as she said this, knowing that it was them that had come up with the idea, "I saw it happening and the outcome of it; even though I tried to avoid it."

There was an uncomfortable silence that filled the mediation room. Serena nervously looked around and asked, "Uhm…are there any more questions?"

"Barring the obvious of how you knew about the meeting and the plan, I think the biggest question we want to ask is why." Rei stated looking sadly at her friend.

Serena paced around the room once more and asked in return, "Why what?" She actually knew what Rei meant, but she wanted to hear the whole question.

Darien filled in, "Why did you do it? Leave us?" Then in a quieter voice asked, "Leave me?"

Serena's heart nearly stopped at the pain in his eyes. She had not meant to cause him so much pain. Taking a deep breath, she started talking, "About a few days after Galaxia, they were giving me visions of destruction. Bodies dismembered, volcanoes erupting, flooding, disease, war. A voice of a woman spoke to me about all of that happening unless I left. It scared me so much I would wake up and cry at night. This went on for two nights. Then the next one I got was the worse." She turned her back to them this time to face the fire place, "It was a man's voice. He showed me your deaths. He said it was my fault that you all died. He showed me everything from the Moon Kingdom up until the battle with Galaxia. He had told me it was all my fault and the same thing would happen unless I left."

She turned back around and faced them, she saw tears in their eyes, but she held her own at bay as she told them the next part, "This was the worse of the worse. This is when I started to sneak away and avoiding you. I figured if I avoided you all, including my family, that you would remain safe. This worked for a little bit, but then the last vision I had hit the nail on the head. The dreams combined in such ferocity and I just snapped."

There was a moment of silence, Hotaru looked away having seen these same type of visions from her own perspective. Haruka, sitting right next to the girl, placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. She looked at Setsuna and couldn't help but glare at the Time Guardian. They were going to have to have a talk. Setsuna did not mean Haruka's glare, but she did keep her eyes on Serena, finally glad that she was coming clean and she could stop playing double agent. Maybe things were looking up for them after all, but there was still much that remained unseen.

"That was when you left right? That day?" Darien asked softly wanting to get up and go over to her.

Serena nodded and crossed her arms, almost as if trying to protect herself, "Yes I told you that I no longer I wanted you and that I was leaving." Then she looked at Rini, "I am so sorry you had to go through what you did. I…" Serena closed her eyes and shook her head, swallowing the lump in her throat, "I wish there would have been another way, but I saw no other choice."

Rini shook her head, not wanting to think about the disaster she witnessed in the future, "Where did you go?"

"I drove to the lake by the camp ground near the hot springs." Darien's eyes almost lit up at Serena's answer, Serena ignored this and looked at Setsuna this time, "I met up with Pluto and had a talk with her. Then I came here and they explained everything to me." Serena finished explaining.

"You keep mentioning 'they', who or what is 'they'?" Mina asked slowly.

Serena was about to explain when a male voice interrupted, "SERENITY!"

Serena's face paled and the room became suddenly became cold, "Shit."

They all looked at one another and then at Serena just as the room went dark and in a flash of red light Serena was face to face with Aries.

"Who the hell is that?!" Haruka exclaimed for the first time since arriving as she pointed at the man, but Serena and the man in question ignored her.

"Serenity what the hell do you think you're doing?" Aries growled giving her the harshest glare he could.

Serena kept her ground and stared defiantly back at him, "I am doing something I should have done a long time ago."

Aries's face turned funky shades of purples and reds, "We had a deal Serenity. Do not get them involved-"

"Until the time comes. Which it has." Serena finished

Aries was still fuming and Serena did not care. She was sick of the lies and betrayal that she had put her guard through. She had had it with the so called 'Almighty Alliance'. She had played by their rules, she had abandoned her friends, and she did her part and collected those damned diamonds. Now it was her turn to play by a different game.

"No it bloody well has not come! The status quo did not change!" Aries shouted pointing his finger at her, "You are ruining everything that we have worked for!"

Serena did not back down. She stood firm and said in a strong voice, "The hell it did! It changed when they made the decision to guard the bloody diamond tonight. It changed when Chaos made an appearance to try and kill my daughter. As for this 'we' bull shit it has been me that has been hopping around the blessed world to steal these things!"

The girls and Darien sat back and watched Serena go at it with this random guy that appeared out of nowhere. They were amazed at the strong-ness in her voice. It was authoritative and grown up that there was no other word to describe it but powerful.

"Serenity I swear to all that is good that if you do not send them back then they will-" Aries began but Serena interrupted him.

"You have no right to be ordering me around Aries. I do not rightly give a damn if you are the former King of Mars. I have lied, abandoned, and betrayed them for far too long and frankly I am sick of the bull shit." Serena stood tall with her shoulders back and the power that was coming from her gave the group a sense of respect and a force to be reckoned with, "They are in my court now and I will decided what is appropriate for them to know. Which I have decided is everything."

"Have you ever once thought if that is how things perhaps intended to take place?" Aries asked bluntly.

Rini watched her mother closely as Serena's face became cold and enraged. Everybody's breathe caught in their throats and shivers went down their spines. Never had Serena looked this angry before. Serena pulled out the Infinity Sword, pointed the tip at Aries, and stood in a defensive position trying as if to protect her loved ones, "If you think for one second that their deaths are intended, then I will make you regret coming back to the mortal world. You sent me the visions of their demise unless I did this." She was speaking fast and her blood continued to boil over as she looked into his dark eyes, "Our agreement was that they would be safe if I left them and collected the diamonds. You then continued to say that if anything should happen to them then I will be able to tell them," Serena gave him her most hateful glare, "And I would be damned if I let them die again. How can you be so willing to send your granddaughter to her death?" She made a hand motion to Rei, who straightened in her seat and looked at her former grandfather, "Or better yet your friends' descendants?"

Everyone was astounded and taken back by her words. Aries on the other hand did not care, "It is her duty, their duty. This is what the agreement was based on. They knew what they were getting into when they signed up for this." He looked at her, and then briefly at the girls, before looking back at Serena, "The Moon was the strong hold of the universe and must be protected."

"Fat lot that did." Serena scoffed, "You guys certainly did a good job protecting it."

"That was your fault for falling in love with that bloody Earth Prince! We told you to stay away from him! _**EVERYONE**_ told you that it was forbidden!" Aries shouted.

"How the fuck is it my fault for falling in love?!" Serena shouted pain leaking from her voice.

Aries knew he had gone too far saying that to Serena, but the child needed to understand the situation. It was then he relooked at the group that Serena had brought back with her, and his eyes landed on the young man of the group. Immediately he recognized him, "You brought him back to the Kingdom?"

Serena heard the statement come out as a question. She turned to look at Darien. Their eyes met and then he saw her realize something, "No!"

She faced Aries again this time lunged at him. Aries sword appeared and just blocked her assault, "Serenity snap out of it!"

Serena was seeing red. She knew what Aries had implied. When Endymion the first was banished from the Alliance they vowed that if the royal blood of Earth returned it would mean immediate death.

"I will not let you kill him!" Serena made an upward slash movement and Aries dodged; then she took her sheath whipped it straight across connecting with his elbow. The force of the contact sent the former king flying into the wall. Serena got up from her defensive crouch, stood tall and straight, and tilted her head to the side still having the murderous look on her face, "Get up." She growled. Darien was watching the match. What the hell had that bastard been thinking that sent Serena into a fiery rage? But he had to admit she did look rather hot when she was pissed…he just as to remember not to get her that mad at him.

Aries stumbled up, "Ser-en-it-y," he gasped trying to get himself ready again. He didn't want to fight her. He did not mean to imply what he did, it was just a statement of clarification. However as he looked into the eyes of his sparring student, he could see that he may have made a mistake in judgement, or one of the diamonds had amplified her emotions and she not fighting back for control. Serena pointed her sword toward the man again, he had no choice but to defend himself. Then they lunged.

The girls held their breath and everything went into slow motion. Serena started to do a side sweep as Aries was about to do a downward slash then a woman's strong voice appeared, "ENOUGH!"

There was a powerful blinding white light that knocked Serena and Aries into the wall. Shaking themselves back into their senses they looked to see Diana standing before them looking pissed. She rounded on Serena, "This behavior is despicable! Serenity you are twenty-two years old and a queen no less. And do not give me that look young lady!" Serena looked away grumbling. Diana then glared at Aries, "And how dare you threaten Endymion! He is a sweet young lad, so unlike his grandfather. He does not deserve what you said. He did not do anything wrong, besides occasionally wear that ugly green jacket but that is beside the point!"

Despite having more important things to worry about, Darien's muddled mind only registered the last point that this new stranger had said, "Why does everyone pick on my jacket?"

"Darien seriously must you ask?" Rini commented rolling her eyes, quite frankly she did not miss her father's green jacket, but at the same time it was interesting to see him evolve to his purple attire, "Green is not your color."

Everyone grinned including Diana who turned to Serena, "Well she is defiantly your daughter Serenity."

"Ok I cannot keep quiet any longer. In fact how are you keeping quiet?" Haruka asked looking at Michiru.

The Guardian of Neptune shrugged, "I like to observe and see how things play out."

"Well I can't any longer." Haruka commented, and looking back at the new stranger just burst out with, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! First this random dude appears, Serena flips shit, and then shit hits the fan, and now who are you and where did you come from?!"

Diana turned back to Serena and said, "I thought you were explaining this to them?"

"Well grandmother I was until this moron appeared." She pointed to Aries, who sent her a glare back at her.

Diana groaned, "Here I thought you two were becoming friends." She recomposed herself to see Aries and Serena about to take another go at each other, "I said enough. Serenity start using proper langue please. I know you have regained all your memories from the Moon Kingdom that and you are twenty-two ok?" Then taking a good look at her granddaughter, she added, "And that is not the proper attire to be wearing here. You know better."

They looked to Serena's outfit and Serena groaned. Summoning her staff she tapped it on the ground and she was in her Neo-Queen form, "I am sorry grandmother. Let me rephrase the comment," Serena cleared her throat ignoring the weird/amazed looks from her friends, "I was explaining the situation grandmother, then we had an unwelcomed guest appear." She shot Aries a stern yet superiority look.

Diana nodded, "There see that is the proper behavior from a Queen."

Rei could not take any more of this, "Ok rewind and freeze! Serena is no way in hell twenty-two yet or a Queen."

The girls nodded and Ami, who had been diligently recording this meeting on her computer, spoke up for the first time in a while, "She had just turned eighteen like five months ago."

Rini watched the women before them. One was her mother and the other one…well she did not know yet. Something had over taken her and she walked cautiously to her mother and gazed into her silver aged eyes. Then without warning she clung on and cried while inhaling Serena's scent.

Serena knelt down and hugged her daughter close and said, "I think it is best that we end this for tonight. I promise we will pick up with everything in the morning." Picking Rini up, she kept hugging her close and turned back to Aries, "I am warning you now: I am going to answer whatever question that arises. You will not stop me. If there is something that I cannot give an answer to, then you will make an appearance and answer it."

Aries was about to say something when Diana cut him off, "As you wish." Then looking at the group she waved, "It was nice seeing you all again!" They disappeared and the room was as it once was.

"Do we know them?" Lita asked slowly pointing to the area where they had disappeared from, "And if so, how the hell do we know them?"

Serena looked back at Lita, giving the brunette a 'seriously?' look, "Will a very brief explanation be alright for now?"

Lita was about to answer, when she was elbowed by Mina. Lita rubbed the spot and shot the blonde a look, "Its ok I guess I can wait."

Serena sighed shifting her daughter into a more comfortable position in her arms, "That was my grandmother, and Sailor Mars's grandfather. I have also met each of your grandparents while here. Now I will continue explanations in the morning. Follow me." They nodded and followed her out of the room.

Darien could hardly believe that Serena was back. He could also hardly believe the new attitude that she had. Walking down the halls he also could not help but wonder that this meditation area was larger than it looks, "Hey Serena, where-?"

"This is your room Darien." Serena interrupted him. He opened the door as his thoughts were confirmed that this area was bigger than it looked.

Across the hall Serena nodded to the other door, "Rei and Mina this is your room. Right next to Darien is Lita and Amy's room and the next one over is Haruka and Michiru and the last room on the right will be Rini's and Hotaru's room."

She then looked at Setsuna and was about to give directions, when the Time Guardian raised her hand, "Actually with your permission, I was going to return to the Time Gate for a bit."

Serena looked at her and asked, "Are you sure?"

"I am. I have a feeling I may have actually something to keep an eye on now." Setsuna smiled softly and transformed into Sailor Pluto.

Serena smiled and nodded, "Then you have my permission. Keep me posted."

"You're Majesty." Pluto bowed and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

Hotaru smiled at the exchange and looked at her friend in her mother's arms. She was a bit lighthearted to see that Rini had a small smile on her lips. Hotaru opened the door to let Serena through with Rini; she gently placed the child down and tucked her in. It was as if her motherly instincts came up and along with it was everyone ounce of regret that she ever left. If only she could take it all back, she would; sadly though that could never happen. These events needed to happen and she only hoped that Rini would understand and forgive her.

The girls watched the silent exchange that happened when Serena put Rini down. They still could not believe that she was back. Serena walked out and nodded to Hotaru that it was ok to go in. The girl hugged her and wished everyone a good night.

Closing the door gently Serena turned to the others, "Well I wish you all a good night and pleasant dreams."

Before she could walk away Darien grabbed her arm, "Serena we-"

"I promise that I will be here when you all wake up and we can continue talking in the morning. I give you my word." Serena said thinking that where the thoughts going around their minds.

Mina smiled sadly as she looked at her friend, "Sere you do not have to be formal with us. That lady is not here so you can stop." Mina said gently.

Serena nodded her head but felt the tears coming on. She held them back and swallowed, she knew that they were no longer angry. Just disappoint radiating off of them. Sighing she nodded her head again, waiting for them to speak.

"Serena what we are asking is…where are you going to sleep?" Rei asked softly. She could tell that her friend felt like she was walking on eggshells and she hated that. She just wanted things to go back to normal.

Serena smiled softly, feeling like she did not deserve their compassion or concern, "Don't worry about me. I will be fine. Night." They just watched as Serena walked out. Deciding it would be best to just sleep they bid each other good night and went to their rooms.

The next morning everyone woke up from a misty sleep. It had been a long time since they had slept that good in a while. Once they saw where they were, they instantly knew it was not a dream. Rini was the first one to exit the room in search of her mother followed by Darien and the rest of the crew.

Serena was in the main area by the fire circle. It had just gone out from burning all night. She had stayed up in communication with Luna and Artemis to ensure the safety of Tokyo. Using the Silver Crystal in the ways that her grandmother had taught her, she assisted them in keeping an eye on the barriers. Many times, Luna and Artemis both had told her they had gotten it handled, but she didn't want them to be alone. Not again. Besides she was thinking of ways in explaining the situations to her friends. It wasn't until well pasted three in the morning that the cats decided enough was enough, and forced her to get some rest; that the barriers had enough magic behind it to protect the city and Serena allowed them to have the win…for now at least.

"Mom?" sighing she looked up to see Rini coming toward her, "Did you stay up all night?"

Rini sat down next to her mother and the rest of the group followed her lead. Serena smiled, however she resisted trying to reach out and stroke the girl's hair, "Yeah. I was keeping an eye out on everything and doing some thinking."

If there was still any doubt that this was a dream, seeing the supposed eighteen year old turned twenty-two put an end to it. An awkward silence fell on the group and Darien spoke, "So how are things looking?"

Serena shrugged and said, "Luna and Artemis was helping on their end. Everything looks ok. Chaos did try to break through a few times but failed."

They nodded and Rei asked, "If it is not too much trouble do you mind if we continue the conversation?"

"Rei why would you ask that?" Darien rounded on her, "Serena deserves to have a little break so leave her alone for a few minutes ok?" He did not want to push Serena because he could tell that she was exhausted.

"Precisely why I said if it was not too much trouble." Rei countered back.

Before anyone else could be speak Serena stood up, "Ok enough." They stopped when she spoke. Making sure they were listening she continued, "We had an agreement and I intend on keeping it."

The room changed and they were in the same area they were in yesterday. Serena was pacing trying to gather her thoughts. Nodding to herself she spoke, "Ok I still stand by as to what I said yesterday. If you all want me to break your pledge I will break it and you can lead normal lives."

Sighing Mina spoke up, "Serena you do not have to break the pledge. I am speaking for everyone when I say that neither of us want to lead normal lives."

Michiru also stood up, "She is right. I think what we all want to know is what is happening and the reason behind why you kept us in the dark."

Seeing Serena's slight discomfort Lita said, "Please Serena, we know that you feel that we are still mad. We also know that you still feel that you do not deserve our forgiveness; but believe us when we say that we want to stay with you. You do not have to do this alone anymore. We forgive you."

Serena looked at them and the Heart of Eternity told her that they were telling the truth, "Thank you guys."

"Ok do not go all mushy on us Sere…you are not out of the woods yet." Rei said winking.

Serena smiled slightly, "Nor do I expect anything less. So where do you want me to continue from?"

They thought back to yesterday's events and Rini whispered, while cringing at the remembrance of the enraged look on her mother's face, "You were discussing about the people that put you up to this."

Serena's face fell at the look on her daughter's face. She also recalled yesterday's event and was deeply ashamed, "Allow me to apologize for my behavior. I should not have reacted like the way I did. It was uncalled for and-"

"Kitten you are doing it again." Haruka stated while smiling gently, "Please no more of the formal junk ok?"

Serena nodded, "I will try not to, but it will slip through a few times."

"Can you also explain that too?" Hotaru asked as she looked at her friend. Rini had confided in her that she had missed her younger mother, "The lady said that you remembered your past and that has added to the whole age difference."

"Yeah, now you look like you're eighteen." Mina pointed out thinking that it was just Serena using the crystal too much yesterday and that is why they were seeing silver eyes and looking older and more mature.

"And you look the way you've always been." Ami stated.

Serena sighed, "Ok well to start out with I am using the crystal to actually hide my twenty-two appearance. If you want I can remove it."

Darien eyed his girlfriend and thinking of how the crystal works in general couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you using energy to keep that in place if you are masking yourself?"

Serena nodded, "Yes I am but I am doing it so you all would feel comfortable."

Rei shook her head, "Ok how about we do this. Serena sit down and stop pacing," Serena looked to her friend and was about to apologize again but Rei cut her off, "no more apologizing. Just sit and stop wasting energy."

Serena nodded and took a deep breath. They gasped as her appearance shimmered away, leaving a woman with silver hair. She still had on her jeans with a simple white tank top and when her eyes opened they were deep blue in color but with a gleam of silver, but what surprised them the most was how sullen the woman looked and the authoritative aura that was radiating off their friend.

"This was caused by the Silver Crystal and your memories?" Darien gasped. He did not care how Serena looked; to him she will always be beautiful.

"It's a little more complicated than that love." Serena answered. Her voice was much more mature. It had long since lost the girly, innocent, whine that was in her teenage vocal cords. She remembered her vow that she made in the park on that stormy night; that girl had died and was not coming back, "Before I get too involved I want to know something; how much did Pluto reveal to you the day I left?"

They thought for a moment and Rini spoke, "She mentioned that there were two paths to the future. One is my home but you are strict and not very forgiving. The other was destruction."

Serena nodded, "Anything else?"

Lita answered, "She gave us the history of some alliance, though she was vague…she never got back to us did she?"

They shook their heads. Serena thought for a moment and said, "Ok what Pluto did was give you a cliff notes version of what I got, and this is where everything fits. As I said last night, the two people that you saw yesterday were the first Queen of the Moon, my grandmother Diana. The guy that I got into fight with was Aries the first King of Mars, Sailor Mar's grandfather." The atmosphere was tense as they recalled the fight yesterday, so to ease some of the tension Serena added, "No wonder Rei is sometimes a hot head. I can see where she gets it from."

"Hot head?!" Rei yelled, "I'll give you hot head."

"Watch that temper pyro; you have a family history of a high blood pressure due to your low boiling point." Serena joked.

"Serena why I ought a-" Seeing Serena's smirk and the smiles on the others Rei blushed and coughed, "Sorry." But secretly she was happy. Serena had managed to get a rise out of her. They had their first banter in months.

Getting herself back under control Serena explained more, "There were others in that alliance, each were survivors from your respective planets; your grandparents. In order to dispel the evil in the universe they combined their powers to form the Eternity Crystal. With this crystal they sealed Chaos away or so they thought." Taking a deep breath she said, "Flash forward a couple of millenniums later to the battle with Galaxia, I did not destroy Chaos…I merely weakened him."

"So then how-" Ami was interrupted when Serena held up her hand, "I am getting to the answer to your question. Anyway once Chaos was sealed away they had to destroy the crystal, because one of the members got greedy and tried to steal it, Endymion the first. He was exiled and the communication between Earth and the rest of the planets was prohibited."

"Oh I see. That is why we could not get together. I always wondered why we could not be involved with you." Darien spoke, more so was out loud to himself.

"Well it would mean your demise if we did get caught seeing each other. Which is why I lost it with Aries, theoretically I should have had the girls kill you Darien." Serena said with grief at the very thought of losing Darien forever.

"What?!" They shouted in shock.

"As much as the guy can piss me off-" Darien glowered at Haruka at this comment, "I wouldn't want him dead like that."

Michiru nodded, "Agree, I for one wouldn't want to be the one to do it."

"I still do not understand though, why would we have had to kill him?" Lita asked, "It was our job to defend you only. We are not executioners, and no offense Darien," she said looking at Darien, "but why didn't they just kill Endymion the first?"

Serena frowned, "I am not too sure on that detail, but they made it a law that the penalty was death if Earth Blood set foot on the Moon." She answered the first part, "However, you all knew what you were signing up for when you became Sailor Guardians." The way she spoke their title made the girls sit up in their seats at an almost attention, "It was your duty in the Silver Millennium to keep the treaty and to guard and protect the Moon. It was the universal strong hold for all the planets. That also meant of course delivering punishments." Then she looked away from them, "You guys at one point almost killed him, that is until I got in the way and protected him. I begged you all to spare him. Anyway they destroyed the crystal so future incidents could be avoided."

"Hence the diamond heists." Mina concluded somewhat disturbed she hadn't recalled that part of her duties; and judging by the other girl's faces they were on the same wavelength.

Serena rolled her eyes at Mina's deduction, "Yup; the ultimate spin off of the Rainbow Crystals. I was really thrilled to hear that."

Everyone let out an easy chuckle at her comment. Ami looked thought for a moment, reflecting on how hard that venture was the first time around and asked, "How did you manage to track them down?"

"The Silver Crystal guided me to them." Serena answered simply.

"I already had the visions of what was happening, but why could we not know about them?" Hotaru asked curiously, "We could have helped you."

Serena shook her head, "It was too dangerous and too many variables to control."

"Meaning what?" Lita asked slowly, trying to process everything and keeping information straight. She looked at Ami to find her once again recording everything in her Mercury computer.

Serena sighed, "If I let you all in on it the diamonds could have given their powers to their creators' descendants. Things may have reverted back to the way it was. Your grandparents lost some of their powers in order to even create this crystal." She now hesitated a bit at this next part, "That and also it is very hard to control; this thing can control the user. Meaning I may do something that I unintentionally did not mean to do. Part of the reason why I was practicing so hard with the Silver Crystal."

Mina looked at Serena's expression and asked the question that was plaguing the minds of the others now, "What is that supposed to mean Sere?"

"Part of the nightmares that Aries gave me was the night that you all died at the hands of Galaxia. The next part consisted of me killing you all." She was not looking at any of them this time.

"But what does that have-" Haruka was interrupted.

"If I could not control my emotions and something went wrong you all could be severely injured or dead by my hand!" Serena yelled out.

There was an uneasy silence as they thought this over. Serena looked at their pained expressions and took a deep breath, "I am sorry but that is what I was told. The plan was that I was supposed to leave you all in a way to make it believable. That I did not want anything more to do with you. So I started to avoid you guys. I knew that you all knew how I felt about being a Scout in the past and how I viewed fighting. So it was easy to play off of that." They each looked away feeling slightly ashamed. How could they have been fooled so easily? Serena would have fought for them if anyone them tried that stunt.

Serena looked away from them and over to Darien, "As for you Darien, you were a little harder. There was a moment that I thought you would see through my act. I saw how you were connecting the dots little by little reflecting on the past when you broke up with me. But I am afraid to admit that I am a little disappointed though."

"How so?" Darien asked confused.

"You believed me so easily. How could you have believed that I did not want you? After everything we've been through? How could you still have doubted our love?" Serena asked.

The girls looked at Darien as he spoke, "I do not know Serena." He bowed his head in shame, "I guess I just figured that somehow, even after everything we've been through, you realized how much trouble I am and that I wasn't worth it. I mean why would you want someone who dies or gets kidnapped on you every couple years?"

At this Serena whacked him upside the head, "For a goddamn Harvard bound guy, you are an idiot!" He looked at her astonished as he now rubbed the sore spot on his head, "If I thought that little of you, I would have kept you dead the second time around or better yet let the women who keep kidnapping you have you."

Seeing that he was blaming himself for not realizing this, she sighs. Reaching over, she cups his cheek and makes him look at her, "Darien stop; I do not blame you." He looked up to see Serena staring at him. Her mostly silver eyes piercing his soul, "I am sorry that I did that to you. I will love you always."

Rini coughed making Serena and Darien jump out of their silent love connection and she asked, "So then what did you do when you were not on a diamond heist?"

"I trained. That is how…well…this happened. I was using the Silver Crystal in ways that you could only dream. It was like more or less we were blending into one another. That and also because of this," she summoned the Infinity Sword, "I was not lying when I said that this belonged to my grandfather. It really did. The Ancients, mainly Aries, taught me how to use it and fight with it."

Willing it away it disappeared and Rini looked hurt again, "So then why did you insult me last night? Claiming that my crystal wouldn't vanquish you and making it sound like I couldn't do anything?"

Serena smiled sadly, "I didn't mean it the way it sounded. However your crystal wouldn't have healed me or vanquished me, because I was not evil. However you knew that something was not right with the situation. You knew deep down that I was not an agent of Chaos." Serena explained, "Anyway you also forget, your crystal was essentially part of the Silver Crystal you 'borrowed'," Rini had the decency to blush at that, "so really it probably wouldn't have done anything."

"And what was that about the status quo?" Rei asked remembering the argument with her grandfather and Serena.

"Like I said the deal was that I would 'cut ties' with you all and help the Ancients. They did not want you involved; I will admit that I did not either. However as time went on, I started to have second thoughts. Actually around the time I had went to New York." She mentioned off handedly, "So when I was here training the one day I mentioned this, and we made a deal: the only way you would be involved was if something happened that needed the Sailor Scouts directly-"

Ami cut in now, seeing the pieces falling into place, "Hence why you mentioned the diamond guarding and Chaos attacking us."

"Exactly." Serena said nodding proudly.

They sat in silence trying to think of more questions, but failed because they were thinking more about Serena's answers. That is when Michiru asked, "You said Chaos chose to attack us. That is one of the reasons why you had to involve us…why did you not involve us before when he was attacking while you were away?"

"Well you guys are not going to like the answer because of how stupid this may sound, fair warning just an FYI;" Taking a deep breath, she responded, "it was not him that was attacking you. It was the demons."

They sat there, and once more Serena found herself counting as they faces slowly changed from bewilderment to indigent to angry, 'One-two-thre-'

"It was his demons that he sent Serena! He was draining our energy so he could finish us off! How the hell does that not count?" Not too surprising it was Rei that was the first to break as she shouted in anger.

'You can thank your grandfather for that one,' Serena answered in her head with a snort thinking back on how much fighting they were doing before.

She had at first ignored the youma attacks while she was out in the very beginning, but when she saw how much hell they were being put through when she was in New York, that was what caused her to make the deal to begin with; that was when enough became enough. Out loud though she responded with, "Because Rei he was not directly involved." Serena explained calmly and a tone of diplomacy, "The moment he chose to possess that body and attack Rini, then that is how he became directly involved." Seeing that they were still not happy with the response, she raised her hands in defense, "I tried to fight it, but making a deal with a bunch of ancient royalty is not easy."

This still did not pacify them, but they let it drop for the time being, "What about the Crystal of Discord?" Ami asked slowly, "Chaos mentioned it when-"

"That is something I would like to know also." Serena said knowing where this line of questioning was going to come in, "Diana!"

The room became black in a flash and there stood before them Diana and Aries, "Serenity, good morning." Then noticing her friends, she greeted happily, "Good morning, hope you all slept well."

"We slept fine, thank you." Darien said in a cordial, but stiff manner.

Diana smiled a bit at him, and elbowed Aries in the side, "Ow." He said rubbing his side, "What was that for?"

"Be nice and greet our friends." Diana said glaring at him.

He scowled at her, but gave in under her glare, "Good to see you all." He said gruffly.

"I wish I could say the same. Please, come and join us." Serena said inviting them to the table, "We have somethings we need to discuss."


	6. Chapter 6

**The Crystal Wars**

"And what explanation could we possibly give you?" Aries asked rather rudely, arms crossed over his chest in a challenging manner.

The tension in the room grew as Serena stared at man. Her eyes narrowed and the energy that flowed from her heightened. It wasn't as deadly as the previous night, but it was climbing, "I thought we had an understanding Aries."

Everyone could see the inner rage that was held in the eyes of the ancient man, "No you had an understanding; your grandmother had an understanding…I for one do not agree with this."

"It does not really matter whether you agree or not. We made a deal and I will be damned if you intend on breaking it." Serena growled at him trying her best to hold her temper in place.

"Now hold on." Diana said calmly inserting herself between the two, "Let's not do this again. We are on the same team." She looked between her granddaughter and her ally, "Aries we did have an understanding with her. We did make that deal with her two months ago, we have the right to honor it."

Aries's eyes flashed for a moment, before relenting, "Fine. What is it that you need from us?"

Darien glared at the former monarch and before Serena could ask her question he jumped in, "What do you have against us being involved?" Everyone looked to him with surprise as his tone held one of annoyance and disbelief.

Aries eyed the former Earth Prince and sneered at him, "You dare to address me? You have no right to be addressing me. I do not care who you are in this life _**Endymion**_ , as far as I am concerned the apple does not fall from the primordial tree." Darien started to rise in his chair, as if getting ready for a fight, but paused when Aries continued, "However fine, if you really want to know it is because all of you," he motioned to the girls, "and Serenity;" Serena sat up in alert, "have too much a connection that is drawing her away from the problem at hand. You guys have transformed your emotions from duty and loyalty to the realms of friendship and emotional boundaries."

Serena kept quiet as her friends pondered the words over. She already knew that this was the main problem, having already heard and scolded by this before, "What are you talking about? Of course we would do that. We are friends in this time and we do have a stronger connection to the princess. We would do anything for her like she would with us." Lita explained as she looked at Serena, wondering why she was not saying anything.

"We do not let that affect our fighting. When we are in the battle, we still fight and stuff. It's not like we talk about random personal stuff amidst of it." Rei offered up feeling insulted. She did not care if this guy was a former King or her grandfather in her other life, she was tired of him bashing on her, her friends, and her best friend. Although she did shoot Serena look, wondering why for someone so vocal on anything this man has said, is remaining quiet.

Ami looked up from her laptop, and responded, "Yea if it wasn't for Serena we would have never found each other."

Aries sighed, and shook his head, "It goes so much deeper than that. The reason why I did not want to get you guys involved was because you all in particular are not strong enough to face this. I did not want you all to become a liability." He then looked at Darien and Rini's expression, "Especially you two."

"How would we become a liability?" Michiru asked laying a hand on Haruka's shoulder to keep her from attacking the former King.

Aries looked towards Diana for help, and she sighed, "Because we left this out for a reason. Which I am assuming is why you summoned us." She said looking to Serena now, who had sat back with her arms crossed as she looked towards her grandmother expectantly, "You already know this Serenity; I too had seen your bonds. They were becoming too close. If we had told you about the Crystal of Discord early on you would have refused to help us tracking the Eternity Crystal."

"What have you told them about the Eternity Crystal?" Aries asked cutting Darien's question off.

"Just that you destroyed it and it separated out into different diamonds that I had to collect." Serena answered as she pulled out her satchel and placing it on the table, "I haven't had the chance to unite them yet, I wanted to see what you had to say about the Crystal of Discord."

The two former monarchs looked at one another and Diana continued, "It holds all the galaxy's darkest energy. Imagine that dark crystal you all were up against when Small Lady was Wicked Lady. Remember the Nega-Moon clan?" She asked. The Inner Scouts all nodded darkly, while the Outer Scouts just listened closely not having been there during that time, however Hotaru noticed that Rini winced and placed a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder for support.

Rini sighed, that will forever remain a sore spot for her as she thought back to that frightening moment of her life as Diana continued with the explanation, "That is what the Crystal of Discord is like. We really did create the Eternity Crystal, but when Endymion's grandfather tried to steal it for himself, Galaxia actually created a counter crystal to negate the effect of the Eternity Crystal; sadly though she was the only one to wield its power. So when she sealed Chaos in herself-"

"He gained control." Mina finished darkly as she saw where that was headed from over a mile away.

"Yes." Aries confirmed as he looked at her. He glanced at Serena and tried to get a read on her expression, but surprisingly she was keeping her face neutral as she listened closely.

Haruka leaned forward now, "So what does this have to do with us being too close to Serena? I would think that we would've been stronger together, not apart if that is really the case. I do not see us being weak when we pool our powers together."

"The same reason that she told you when she was explaining the way the Eternity Crystal is, but this time Chaos gains his power through the use of other's energy. An example would be your energy," Aries responded, seemingly to be a bit more patient with them, "he has been collecting your energy from the beginning."

This brought them up short, "How?" Michiru asked slowly, "We didn't even fight him this time around."

Aries nodded his head, "Not face to face, but while you were fighting his youma he was slowly stealing some of your energy. That is also why we did not want her with you girls and you Endymion." Seeing their shocked looks, he continued, "Imagine if Serenity was there and if she had to use the Silver Crystal...where do you think that energy would go?"

"But Darien is just as powerful as Serena...not to mention Rini. She was fighting with us." Hotaru put in, her voice quiet as she looked at her shocked friend, but her eyes landed on Serena, who this time stood up.

"I believe that answer goes back to what I explained with Rini a bit last night," they all looked at her this time, "Darien does not have his full strength like he used too when he was Endymion, his power is different than my own. He has not fully learned yet on how to call on the full power he could possess." Darien's eyes widened at this as Serena talked and was further surprised as she looked at Rini, "Rini has not yet fully mastered the true power of the Silver Crystal; she cannot even possess its true power. That still and will always lie with me."

Diana and Aries nodded in agreement at her words, "But how? When she took it from you in the future the Crystal accepted her." Ami said confused, "She is of Lunar descent."

"I am right here." Rini stated looking around, "No need to talk as if I am right here." Then looking at her mother, she asked, "I am your daughter, you had told me that it would be mine someday. How can I not possess the Silver Crystal's true power?"

Serena looked at her and said, "You are also half Terrainian descent. So the Crystal's power will never fully accept you as its master. It was something that was put in as a failsafe, am I correct?" She asked looking at her grandmother, who nodded in confirmation, "I was going to explain this to you all, when I explained the powers of the diamonds." Serena added as she looked at Darien, still seeing the questioning look in his eyes.

"That explanation aside, how is it that it accepts you fully since you were...in fact we all were born on Earth?" Rei asked looking at Serena.

Serena smiled as her grandmother stepped forward to say, "You were born physically on Earth, your spirit remains devoted to those plants you came from and served. Serena's spirit will always remain loyal to the Moon even though she will help create Crystal Tokyo in the Thirtieth Century. So hence why we had to get her away from you. If she had to use the crystal against Chaos's youma, then she would have ended up giving up all that power and we would have no chance in defeating him once and for all."

There was a moment or two of silence, before Serena broke it once more with, "You didn't think I would leave if I knew about him possessing the Crystal of Discord before-hand."

"Yes, I am sorry, but yes that is what we thought." Diana answered with a nod.

"Well you are right, I wouldn't have left." Serena muttered out.

"Which is why we said you were too close to them. I admire your loyalty and friendship, I do," Aries said as he caught their eye as a group, "but you have been known for taking that loyalty and friendship too far. You all tend to forget your primary duties, placing each other first." He then looked at Serena, who had no response to that, knowing that he was talking about her more so than the girls and Darien. Which is why she agreed in the first place to leave them, it had been a win-win to her: leave and have a better chance at protecting them by doing this on her own.

"So going back to the Crystal of Discord," Darien spoke up as he mulled over the King's words, not agreeing with them, but not wanting to argue (especially seeing Serena's look), "if the Crystal of Discord was used to negate the effects of the Eternity Crystal then how can it be useful?"

There was a pause as the former monarchs shot glances at each other. Serena looked at them expectantly as the others waited for the answer. However, even with her connection to the Heart of Eternity, she knew the answer they didn't want to say, "You're thinking of 'negating' differently than we are thinking of 'negating'." Serena stated flatly, "You are thinking that my chances of survival this time are very slim. Is that correct?"

This caused a major uproar between the girls and Darien. None of them wanting to believe that was true, "Wait what?!" Rini devastatingly yelled the loudest after overcoming her shock. This made everyone go silent as they looked toward the young girl, who was standing and looking between her mother and the former monarchs. She looked into her mother's eyes, and saw something she did not like, and her hand flew to her necklace underneath her shirt as a small scene played in her mind's eye-

 _It was a busy day, all the scouts and her parents surrounded her, she had just blown out the candles on her cake. Everyone was clapping, smiling, and having a great time. Her mother gracefully came over to her and whispered discreetly in her ear to follow her, and together they left the family living room area away from everyone, 'Are you liking you day so far?' her mother asked as they went into the pallor. They could still see everyone, and hear the laughter, but was far enough away that they couldn't be seen or heard by the others._

 _She hugged her mother close, and felt her mother's strong arms wrap around her just as tightly, 'Yes, I am! I know you all are busy, but I am happy.' She had responded with a wide smile on her face. They had to celebrate her birthday a few days later than she would have liked, but had understood that her parents had to travel to a different country to help settle a dispute, and of course wherever her parents went, the Inner Scouts followed; not to say that she didn't have fun with the Outer Scouts, they had come to watch her and had did a little something to celebrate her birthday, but it was not the same as having everyone here with her._

 _Neo-Queen Serenity nodded and pulled away, looking at her with a small smile on her face. She had been caught off guard a bit as she noticed the difference in her mother's smile. This one was one of patience and slight sadness. She notice how her mother hesitated for a moment as she went over to a drawer. Opening it, she pulled out a small package while explaining, 'I am going to give you a gift. Your father will give you a gift later that is from the both of us, but this one is strictly from me; our little secret.'_

 _All suspicion was erased in that moment as her mother handed her the package. She had smiled at the pink bunny wrapping paper, and looked at her mother almost expecting for her to see the teenage Serena. Smiling widely, she then ripped it off and saw a black velvet box, opening it up, she gasped at the beautiful crystal heart with a crescent moon and rose inside one another, 'Wow Mama…I do not know what to say." She said as she held it by the silver chain._

 _Neo-Queen Serenity smiled as she gently took it from her daughter and placed it around her neck, 'This is blessed with the Silver Crystal; I had wished that it holds some of my life energy, if something ever happens in the past that effects Crystal Tokyo, so long as I am still around you will be too._ '

 _She had turned back around and looked at her mother with wide eyes, 'What-?'_

' _Just know that as long as I am still around no matter the circumstances or the timeline; you will be too, now let's go back to the party and remember,' she looked at her mother and paid close attention as they headed back to the party room, 'it's our little secret.'_

Her mother's voice at the end of the conversation echoed hauntingly in her head. Her hand was still gripping the necklace tightly as she continued to look at Serena, "How the hell are you so calm about this?" Rini demanded angrily.

Serena looked guilty at her future daughter. She was trying to keep her composer…but was losing badly. Rini, all her friends, and Darien were her lifeline to what she hoped was the intended future that they saw after the battle with the Black Moon Clan. Seeing that they were waiting for her response, she said, "When has it not come down to life or death situations with us?"

This was the wrong thing to say. Rini took one look and then ran out of the room. The girls and Darien were about to get up when Serena said, "No." They looked at her, "Leave her be."

"Are you serious?" Darien demanded to know, "You are just going to let her go off on her own?"

"Really Endymion," Darien's eyes widened, she never called him that, "where is she going to go? It's the ruins of the Moon Kingdom, and I closed off all the available portals to Earth. She cannot leave."

"How do you know that?" Rei demanded to know now angry again, "You managed to sneak away a few times."

"More than a few." Lita, Mina, and Ami all said with their arms crossed.

Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru all watched with dark looks on their faces as well, "It is because I remembered that I made sure all available paths are blocked. No one can leave or get into this kingdom without me knowing." Serena said eyes downcast as she cowardly avoided looking at them.

Diana and Aries were silent at the exchange, but giving each other a look, Diana spoke up, "Perhaps we should take a break. We can continue explanations later."

Serena looked at her grandmother and nodded. The room flashed a bright light and they were back to the normal mediation room. Serena took a deep breath and picked up her satchel of the diamonds, "Where are you going?" Haruka asked standing up and blocking her path to the door.

"I am going to talk to my daughter. You guys can go get something to eat." Serena said.

"No you are not." Mina stated blocking her path as well, "You still have to talk to us."

"Honestly, I have a kid that I need to talk to." Serena stated glaring at the head of the Sailor Guardians.

Michiru glared back, "Glad to see that you still remembered your daughter. For a moment there I thought you had forgotten."

Serena's eyes flashed and she now gave off a dangerous aura, "Do not talk to me that way." She continued to stare at the Outer Guardians, "She is _**my**_ daughter, and you will do well to not stand in my way." She stared them down further until they finally visibly shrunk under her gaze, furthering reminding them who she was, and who she was meant to be.

Serena paused in the doorway and sighed, "I am going to go talk to her. It is best that I do it alone." She had directed this towards Darien, then she got thoughtful for a moment and looked to the satchel in her hand, "Rei here, hold on to these." Rei hesitantly took the satchel and immediately felt something stirring, "No doubt you will find them enlightening, just do not try anything. I would know first of all, and second of all they wouldn't necessarily answer to any of you anyway." She warned them, "Kitchen is down the hall to your left." With that she waved her hand and disappeared in a cloud of grey smoke.

Staring at the spot Serena had be just present, Lita asked, "When has she been able to do that?"

No one had an answer and just gazed at the seemingly pulsing bag in Rei's hands, "I say we just review what we learned and hopefully Serena has Rini calmed down a bit." Ami suggested warily.

"I am finding my future daughter and Serena." Darien said standing up, "You girls can do what you want."

"I do know if that is such a good idea." Michiru said, "I do not know where you were, but did you not feel that energy come from her?"

Haruka nodded, "Yea, our Kitten has claws, major tiger like claws." Darien gave her a flat, deadpanned look, "Back me up here." She said looking at the others.

Mina sighed and nodded, "As much as I hate to say it, I agree. It is best we try and let Serena handle this."

Darien growled deeply, but relented, "Fine I'll give her twenty minutes, and if we do not see them, then we go find them."

Hotaru looked at the Earth Prince and then to the older girls, "So do we get food, or do we study the diamonds?"

"Both?" Rei suggested, still not liking the feeling she was getting. They shrugged and followed Serena's instructions to the kitchen.

Meanwhile outside sitting in the garden surrounded by dead flowers, Rini sat looking mournfully at the Earth. It troubled her so much to see Serena accepting her fate so easily. Did she not matter to her at all? Closing her eyes, she clutched her fists and slammed them on the broken fountain she was sitting on, "Why the hell is this happening?!" She yelled in frustration to no one in particular.

"I can answer that sweetheart," Rini spun around to see a faint outline of a woman coming towards her, but there was nothing threatening about it. In fact the aura felt warm and inviting as the soft voice spoke elegantly, "Hello darling."

Rini gave a small nod since she was hardly able to speak. She felt the warmth and embraced it as the voice, mournful and sad said, "I understand you are confused young one. Everything will be explained soon…all hope is not lost as it may seem."

Rini observed the ghostly presence before her, but eventually looked away, "I do not know how it cannot be lost. My mother doesn't seem to care about anything except this mission that those former monarchs sent her on." The aura of the woman seemed to have gotten colder at that, but Rini still avoided eye contact.

"I can assure you, so long as there is love, then there is hope. Sailor Moon has taught all that." The woman eventually responded once she calmed her temper down slightly. Seeing that Rini wasn't as accepting to this answer, she said lightly, "Seeing you reminds' me so much of my own daughter."

"Who is your daughter?" Rini asked surprised, but as soon as the question left her lips, she immediately knew the answer as the ghost started to materialize more. The woman was in a white dress with really white hair that was in the same style as her mother's. She had blue eyes that reminded her of her mother's eyes and she held herself that stated she had held a position of power that demanded respect.

The woman smiled gently as she stood before the young girl, "I know that you know who I am Small Lady. I am Queen Selenity of the Silver Millennium, Serenity's mother making me your Grandmother."

Rini blushed and looked down, "I am sorry, I do not know why I didn't put it together before. Mama would sometimes tell me that you came to her when she was in trouble or feeling sad."

Selenity started to laugh and sat down next to her and gently grabbed her chin so that Rini was facing her once more, "Its fine dear, I understand; but yes you are so much like your mother…" Selenity sighed, "Small Lady, you know that what you said about your mother is not true."

"I think it is. How else can she have no regard as to what may happen to her after what she implied?"

Selenity shook her head, "On the contrary my darling, she does. True, she perhaps should have had a bit more tact than explaining it the way she did." There was a note of warning in her grandmother's voice that Rini had all too often come to know, "However things have happened to her that has made her too accepting of high risk consequences."

Rini shook her head and pulled out her necklace and explained what it meant and how she acquired it. Once she was done, she said, "It was like she knew this was going to happen. She told me so long as she was living in the timeline, I would stay; but if she…" Rini paused and took a deep breath, she continued in a shaky voice, "If she is gone, then I disappear."

The former Queen of the Silver Millennium gently held the crystal necklace in her semi-transparent hands and smiled sadly, "My dear if that is the case, you will never disappear."

"How-?"

"Think about what you just told me my dear." Selenity's melancholy voice echoed, "Close your eyes and say her words out loud."

" _ **Just know that as long as I am still around no matter the circumstances or the timeline; you will be too**_." Rini said echoing her mother's words from that day at the party in the pallor. Opening her eyes now, she gasped, "The timelines. No matter the circumstances or the timeline." She looked brightly at the former Queen, "She will still exist in the previous timelines."

Selenity nodded and was surprised when the young girl tried to hug her. She fought to have some solidity and gave a hug back to her granddaughter. Noticing something (or someone) out of the corner of her eye, she looked towards the corner of the building and saw her daughter standing near one of the pillars. She signaled to her daughter to not come close right now and saw Serena nod in understanding. She was brought back to the girl in her arms and pulled away, becoming slightly transparent once more, "Small Lady, I know I said this, but you really are like your mother. I know this is unknown territory for you, but you are so brave. I know you-all of you-will be alright. You have to have trust and faith that things are going to work out."

"How do you know? This does not sound like it will be like any of the fights we've had." Rini countered desperately, "I do not know how to help her; and I've seemed to always know how to help. She trusted me in every way that a mother would trust a daughter."

Selenity kept quiet, seemingly knowing that Rini needed to get this out, "There were times when Daddy would be away and I kept her whole but now I feel lost more than I did each time I went back home from the past. I see three people living in one shell. The care free, innocent, naïve Serena. The fun loving and good hearted Serena. The one that I enjoyed to play pranks on." Rini was pacing now, not realizing the person she was talking about was moving ever so close to the area with a heartbroken look on her face.

Selenity silently sent a message to her to stay put, and Serena sent one back that she understood, however it was becoming harder to deny the maternal instinct to go rushing to her own daughter as Rini continued on with her rant, "Then there was Sailor Moon. The brave, strong, independent woman who fought for what she believed in. The one that tried to save everyone. And then my mom; Neo-Queen Serenity." Serena winced when she heard her future title, but kept focusing, "She was the combination of Sailor Moon and Serena wrapped up in one. She was my hero teaching me the ways of being good. I just cannot see how she could do this? How she could have abandoned everyone, including me. Grandmother, I know what she explained, but does that seem like the people I just described?"

Selenity shook her head, "No, but honey she didn't purposefully abandon you. It's just that sometimes people make decisions without thinking things through very well if they are mad, scared, or stressed. Besides I know that your mother was presented with a huge problem that didn't really have any other solution at the time." Before Rini could say anything, her grandmother continued, "Darling, I know that maybe things should have been planned differently, but what's done is done. Not everything can be solved with time travel." This she winked at, and Rini (despite her feelings) giggled, "This is one of them."

Getting serious the former queen continued on with her point, "Now I know your mother wants to talk to you." She waved Serena over, and Rini gasped, how long has she been standing there? "All I ask is that you be patient," then looking at Serena, "both of you be patient with each other." Selenity was starting to fade now, "I love you both, take care and I'll talk to you soon."

Once she faded Rini looked at her mother and the place where her grandmother once was, "Stupid question," Rini looked at her mother this time, "but how was your talk?"

Rini rolled her eyes, "You are right, that was a stupid question."

"Feel like answering it?"

"Not really."

Serena nodded and didn't push the subject. She instead chose to sit on the damaged stone of the fountain and admired the Earth, "I am selfish." Serena said after a moment or two. Rini looked at her in surprise, "Probably the most selfish person you can meet."

"What? No! I know what you heard, but I didn't-"

"How much do you know of our life?" Serena asked slowly, "Like really know."

Rini thought for a moment, "Just what Daddy would tell me when I was younger and from experiencing your life first hand when I time traveled the first time."

"So the censored stuff…" Serena said more so to herself as she kept her gaze locked on Earth.

"Censored?"

Rini could see tears pooling in her mother's eyes, "Your grandmother was right when she said I accept the consequences too easily now. I already told you my selfish reasons, and normally while I hate it when people justify their behavior to some extent, I feel like telling you the story behind my own reasons for what I did or am doing."

Serena, with much effort, took her eyes off the Earth and looked at her daughter continuing on, "Judging by your behavior back when you first came to us, your father in the future told you a Romanized Fairytale of our past." Rini just nodded, not knowing if that was what her mother was looking for, Serena gave her a small sad smile, "Now though, being a Sailor Guardian in training, I think you are old enough to hear the uncensored version, since you talked, do you think you could listen for a bit?"

Rini sat down on the ground and looked at her mother. Reaching for her hand, she took it in her own and said, "Yes I can do that."

Serena nodded and took a deep breath, now facing the ruins of the palace, "Once upon a time in an age called the Silver Millennium…"

Meanwhile the others sat in the kitchen, Lita had made a small stew, but no one really was in the mood to eat, despite not having anything since dinner before the museum ambush. All were in deep concentration thinking about the information that came together. They had spent a good deal of time reviewing the things Serena, Diana, and Aries had told them.

What's worse was the fact that one thought kept cropping up, "I can't believe this is happening." Amy sighed sipping on a cup of coffee curtsy of Darien.

"Why her? Why does it always have to be her?" Mina asked putting her head down, pushing the bowel and the coffee aside.

No one said anything but they all knew what the question was referring to: there was a high chance that Serena was going to die and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

"When she uses that Eternity Crystal against the Crystal of Discord she does not stand a chance." Haruka said sadly.

Darien winced at this as he sat down finally and leaned back in his chair. It did seem hopeless the more he thought about it. Why would fate give them so many chances, so many opportunities to be together and happy, just to finally tear it away for good?

"We can't think like that." Michiru said softly looking at Haruka, then looking at everyone, trying to meet their eyes, "This is Serena we are thinking about. Since when has she ever died on us?"

Hotaru sighed. She had nearly died on them saving her from Pharaoh 90. Rei flashed to the time on the asteroid when Fiore had sent it hurtling toward Earth. Amy thought back to the Silver Millennium, yea sure everyone died too but she had committed suicide with Endymion's sword. Lita was thinking about the time of the Doom Phantom. She had used the Silver Crystal twice that time: to save Rini and to destroy the Phantom. Mina was thinking along the same lines of the break up season when they saw her in the future, trapped in the quartz shell. The Queen had saved Rini from the attack and in return was thrown in a slumber that even the Silver Crystal couldn't even break.

Darien was thinking about all of the above, and gave her a deep look, "Ok so there a few close calls; but she always made it out in the end." Michiru said backtracking seeing their looks. However she looked to Darien, "You should know that better than anyone."

"However it isn't just her life at stake." Darien brokenly whispered to her, "Its Rini's as well."

"Not to mention her surviving and coming back to us was all luck. It is bad enough that the Silver Crystal drains her life energy, but can you imagine what using the Eternity Crystal will do, if she should win?" Lita said quietly.

Rei nodded as she took a hesitant look to the satchel sitting on the table, an ominous presence, "And how much longer can lady luck hold out on us? How much more can we be put through before our luck runs out and she…?"

The question didn't need to be finished. They all were thinking the same thing. Luck was something that was going to be in short supply and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Darien stood up suddenly, feeling claustrophobic, and said, "I cannot take this anymore. I am going to find Serena." Without waiting to be stopped, he stormed out of the kitchen. The girls looked to one another and not feeling like sitting still, went to go after him to help.

Back at the garden, Serena had just gotten to how the end of the Silver Millennium came about, Rini had tears pooling in her eyes, but was mostly silent, "So Queen Metaria, using her evil influence, brainwashed the people of Earth using Beryl as the leader. They sent soldiers to the Moon to wage war. Prince Endymion, your father;" Rini nodded and gripped her mother's hand harder, "tried to plead for peace to his people. Beryl tried to attack me, and he stepped in her way, taking the fatal blow that was meant for me…" Serena swallowed a lump in her throat, "By that point the Moon was loss and I was taken over in grief. I picked up your father's sword…" Serena looked away. Rini suddenly gasped, a vision flashed into her mind, forcing her to see what her mother was describing:

She saw Beryl and Metaila came at the younger version of her mother on the steps of a palace. She saw her Dad in trying to save her, then saw her father take a fatal hit. Gasping in shock she watched the final moments of her mother's life. She watched Serenity pick up her father's sword and plunged it right into her chest; it took all that Rini had not to scream in agony as her mother fell lifeless over her father.

It was over quick as it came, but the image still burned in Rini's mind. In fact it looked like her mother was not even aware that it happened, did she somehow send her that horrifying vision…or was that her memory? Rini did not want to know and she fought to hug her mother, feeling as if she did, then Serena would shut down, "Mama it wasn't you fault." Rini opted to say instead, hoping to bring her some comfort, "By the sounds of what you told me, you were having problems even before you fell in love with Daddy; but it all worked it out in the end, didn't it?"

Serena huffed and laughed sadly, "I suppose it did love." Rini smiled at the confirmation and the endearment, but it fell quickly as Serena continued, smile falling, "However we did have to face them again no less; but ever since then I've attracted a lot of horrible people." Rini caught the self-loathing tone and before she could cut her mother off, Serena started in on her tangent, becoming increasingly angry, "Beryl and Metaila, Allen and Anne, Black Moon Clan, Fiore, Pharaoh Ninety, Dead Moon Circus, Queen Nehellenia twice!" She held up her fingers and Rini winced at the tone, even if it wasn't directed towards her. Serena had gotten up and turned her back towards her daughter, "Finally finishing with Chaos and Galaxia; oh wait a minute I am sorry, I didn't know that I attracted Chaos to me again so that bastard is still on my list!"

Rini saw her father and the other girl looking around, and noticed that they spotted them. Darien was about to run over when she shook her head violently and mouthed to stay put. He had cocked his head to the side and she again mouthed to him to trust her and wait. He gave her a harsh glare, but sighed and nodded and went over by the pillar so as to not be noticed by Serena, but he could still hear the conversation, "What are we doing?" Rei demanded, "We should go over there."

"Rini said to wait here." Darien said critically as he watched his future daughter, and girlfriend interact, "I guess Serena is still talking to her."

"Talking?" Haruka asked, "Looks more like venting."

Lita looked at the two, then at Darien, "Are you sure you do not want to go over there at least?"

"No I am not sure." Darien said but held back as Rini spoke up.

Rini looked over to make sure that the girls and Darien stayed where they were, as she said hesitantly, "Mama I know how it looks-"

Serena shook her head and cut her off, still not looking at her, "Honey, I really do not think you do. I mean I am not even sure how the hell am I supposed to go about even stating how I feel about this." Serena now turned and faced her daughter. Part of her wasn't too sure she should be unloading any of this to the young girl, but at the same time, she meant what she said to her, if she was old enough to be a Sailor Guardian in training then she could hear this, "Every single time one of these creepy people comes, everyone ends up in danger; and every single time I have to be the one who sees them die and or get severely wounded that I am left to destroy the villain myself."

Rini made a move to speak again, but Serena beat her to the punch, "What hurts the worse is that they are not even the target; hell you are not even the target, I am."

"That is not completely true…the Black Moon Clan followed me to the past because they found out that I had stolen your Silver Crystal." Rini stated quickly to prove her point, "They wouldn't have come after you all if I wasn't for me."

They watched as Serena shook her head and laughed bitterly, "You were a feisty child back then; but that is all that you were, a six year old child. True they might have been after you, I will give you that small win, but in the end I could barely protect you, my own daughter, because I had to be a selfish witch!" That part she snarled out, and before anyone could do anything, Serena turned and without so much as a warning, summoned her sword and did a wide arch slash across the pillar.

Everyone expected the sword to shatter, but instead the top half of the pillar went flying to the side and smashed to the ground. Darien and the girls made a move to go over, having had enough of this, but was stopped by a ghostly presence in front of them, "No Endymion." They paused as the ghost materialized in front of them, "They had to talk this out."

"Queen Selenity." The girls gasped out softly, getting down on one knee before the former queen.

"Your majesty I-" Darien started to argue.

She held up her hand, "Wait, and you will understand." With that she vanished and the girls got up. Darien was torn, but stayed put and just stared in awe.

Rini just stared in shock as her mother lowered the sword and it vanished. Serena took a deep breath and swallowed again sighing out, "No wonder Darien had broken up with me at the time. What was worse is that some deep part of me knew the girls were right, none of them wanted me to be the leader because I was such a screw up. Darien deserved someone better."

"Mama please, it wasn't your fault." Rini begged almost tearfully, "I didn't make it easy for you. I threatened you with a gun for goodness sake when I first got here and attempted to rob you! I stole the Crystal for a selfish reason. I had stolen it to prove to that I was really your daughter and was capable of great strength and power. It was my fault that Crystal Tokyo became defenseless."

"What happened exactly?" Michiru asked. The outers, minus Hotaru who knew what partially happened thanks to Rini telling her, were a little fuzzy on the events that happened before the Messiah vs. Pharaoh Ninety.

Ami sighed, "Rini wanted to be like her mother, Neo-Queen Serenity, and she had thought that if she had the crystal it would make her be like Serenity; but instead it disappeared."

"So the onetime I guess they had need for it…it wasn't there." Lita continued, "Pluto had sent her to the past in order to find Sailor Moon…and she didn't know that was Serena; and hell broke loose. The Black Moon Clan followed her and on our end Darien here-"

Darien cut her off, tried of the back and forth, "Long story short my future self was sending me visions of Serena's death unless I stayed away from her so I broke up with her."

Rei sighed, "Well then after that episode we were thrown into the future where Serena had gotten abducted and Rini was kidnapped-"

"And brainwashed." Mina finished off, "You know our typical end of the world, save it at the last minute type deal."

"Sounds like this is still a sore spot for Serena isn't it?" Haruka asked to no one in particular as she continued to observe, although a small part of her couldn't help but also think how unfair it was the Inner Sailor Guardians had all the fun and adventure.

They focused back on the conversation as they heard Rini please, "Serena please," this made Serena turn back to her daughter. Rini had not actually said her name since they were reunited and this caused her to stop breathing momentarily as Rini continued, "You are not a bad mother or a bad person." She thought back quick and said something that she often heard her mother tell some of the good people of their kingdom, "You are a good person, who unfortunately bad things happened to."

Serena closed her eyes and looked away, "You were a young kid, and I treated you like a villain for the longest time when you came. I despised you for a long time, how can you say I am a good person?"

Rini was standing now, hands balled in fists shaking at her sides. It hurt to hear her mother say that to her, but at the time- "It was a normal reaction. You did not know at the time who I really was. To you I could have been easily been an enemy." Again as much as it hurt, it was perfectly reasonable.

Serena shot her a look, "Normal? I have not been normal since I was thirteen."

"Point taken," Rini stated sadly; now though she was confused, are they fighting or talking; and if they were fighting, why?

Serena must have heard the defeat in Rini's tone and looked at her daughter, all the self-hate fading away. She hadn't meant to dispel this much on her daughter, just to make her see the reason why she had done things she had, "Small Lady honey, I am not yelling at you. I am not trying to argue with you. I am just trying to make you see that I am trying to…" Serena thought for a moment, "Prevent a vicious cycle that seems to happen to us all the freaking time."

"But you going off on your own is not going to stop them or rather stop us from trying to protect you." Rini whispered.

"That is the point. I do not want your protection." Serena stated back firmly. She wanted to cry, but couldn't…not yet, "I was going to explain this later, but I need you to understand now. I am sorry for the way my comment came off to you. I really am, but can you see from my point of view I was not making light of the situation? That when has anything ever not come down to life or death situations?"

Rini nodded slowly, "I do Mama." She gripped her necklace close, and Serena noticed it, "I was upset because I didn't understand your words when you gave me this." She pulled it out and showed Serena it.

It gleamed in the light from the sun and a sudden vision came to Serena and then it left. A look of understanding crossed Serena's face as Rini placed it back into her shirt, "Pluto told me that my future-self had some forethought, I knew she would obviously;" Rini rolled her eyes at this comment, "however I figured it was asking for the Time Key, but giving you the necklace with some of my life energy in it…really clever. That's how I knew you were here." This last part she said more to herself than anything.

Rini just nodded, "How do you keep knowing things, if you weren't spying on us or using the Great Fire?"

"I am going to explain further, but those diamonds are not just any diamonds, or even just part of some more powerful crystal. They have their own unique…" Serena paused, she knew the others were listening, but chose to say, "Abilities. The Sancy Diamond gives me visions, sometimes to just communicate or just to show me something. The Millennium Star Diamond gives me wisdom. The Century Diamond gives me strength, and the Heart of Eternity allows me to hone in on the feelings and emotions of others. Of course you know of the Silver Crystal, no need to get into that."

Rini nodded, still not quite understanding, but accepted the answer as it was given, "So when you unite these diamonds, you know what is going to happen?"

"A bit, sometimes the visions are not always so clear. It's based on intuition more or less." Serena said hesitantly, she wasn't going to add anything more, but seeing her daughter's silent question she sighed, "It is a theory, and I already brought it up to the ancients. It is part of the reason that I also didn't want you guys around, in fact-" she looked over her shoulder, "Might as well come out."

Darien and the girls out of their hiding spot and went over to them. Darien taking his place next to Serena as the girls surround them. She waved her hand and the satchel appeared. Taking out the diamonds she placed them on the ledge of the fountain, "The Sancy Diamond." She said to them picking up a pale yellow diamond. Then placing it back down, she picked up another, "The Millennium Star Diamond." They gasped at how colorless it was, and gently placing it down, she picked up the next one, "The Century Diamond." This one was a rick royal deep blue color, and the last one she picked up, "The Heart of Eternity." This one was a real deep vivid blue that reminded Darien of a rich ocean color.

"Once these are united with the Silver Crystal, it will form the Eternity Crystal." Serena stated as she looked at them then at the diamonds. "Once I bring about the Eternity Crystal, I saw a couple of different paths, one namely the return of the Silver Millennium." Serena said after a few moments pause.

"Wait what?" Ami asked as she took her eyes of the diamonds that had been in the news earlier in the week, "How can that happen?"

"I destroyed it." Hotaru said softly as she looked at the ruins, "It was beyond saving and I used the Silent Glaive once Mama Michiru, Mama Setsuna, and Papa Haruka awakened me." She looked around at the destruction, almost as if taking it in for the first time.

Rini went over to her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a sideways hug as the adults looked at the Solider of Silence, "True, but I had an opportunity to reawaken it before." At this everyone looked at her, "After the defeat of Queen Metaila, the kingdom was restored and my mother gave me a choice to stay and rebuild it, or go back on Earth. You can have three guesses as to what I chose." Serena gave them a smile.

They pondered this for a moment, "Wait; so then what you are saying is you could have chosen to rule early?" Mina asked in disbelief.

Serena nodded, "Yes, but I didn't want that. I was afraid that it would mean having a complete restart. Us being apart." She explained looking at Darien now.

He reached for her hand and squeezed, "You would have made the rules. We could have still been together."

Serena gave a smile, "Anyway that was vision number one, things reverting to the way it was before. Vision number two was that nothing major would happen, just merely possessing a powerful kick ass crystal." She laughed and this got a smile out of everyone, but then it stopped, "However since I am not that lucky or fortunate, I form the crystal and Chaos attacks. That seems most probable at the moment seeing as he can come into his own crystal and since from science class we know that opposites attract, you get three guesses as to how this will turn out."

They nodded along with her, and she was right, they were not so lucky or fortunate, "So can you all see why I didn't want you around when I did this?" Serena asked as she waved her hands and the crystals went back into her satchel and that too vanished, "Since you heard me talking to Rini, can you see I just wanted to get to the part about defeating the villain and not have to go through the hoops of watching you all get hurt or die?"

"But if you do not want that, what makes you think we want to watch you get hurt or die?" Lita asked wide eyed, "How would that make us feel?"

"We are your guardians, it is our job to protect you." Haruka stated arms crossed.

"It really isn't your job to protect us." Ami said softly.

Mina snorted, "I bet in the future you are not fighting alongside us." Then looking at Rini she asked, "Is she?"

Rini shook her head, "No, remember she said she lost the ability to transform into Sailor Moon, but she will fight alongside you if she had to." Then she thought more, "She will sometimes ask Sailor Venus if she can join in the training sessions. I asked her once why and she said that for starters, she likes to stay in shape, and help relieve some pent up frustration."

"Sounds like she likes to use us as punching bags…" Lita muttered out and gave Serena a look remembering the park scene and how their butts got kicked.

"She often jokes that you all are the source of where her misplaced aggression goes to when she needs something to take it out on." Rini says offhandedly. Then realizing what she said, she immediately blurts out, "I don't think I was supposed to tell you all that."

Serena put her hands up as she sees them giving her dark, accusatory looks and says, "Ok one, I haven't technically started doing that yet; and two well…I got nothing. Just know you cannot be mad for something that hasn't happened yet; and Lita the whole park thing?" Lita looked surprised, "I gave you a fair warning that I didn't want to fight you."

"We are so having a rematch." Lita said recovering from her shock, "And can you quit reading our minds, it is getting annoying!"

Serena winced, "I am sorry, but it isn't so much mind reading as it is emotions and the quick visions of where those emotions are coming from."

"The Heart of Eternity and the Sancy Diamond?" Darien asked looking at her as he recalled the explanation of what each one does.

"Yea, they work together sometimes even though I wish they wouldn't. It isn't something I can really control right now. I am hoping once they are together then it'll get better." Serena said looking at him and then the girls apologetically, "Did you guys have a chance to eat yet?"

"Eh we couldn't really eat. We were still worried about your so called imminent demise." Haruka said eyebrow raised.

Serena nodded once again back on a topic she would rather avoid, "Look it is going to happen or it's not. Let's face it really, it'll be the same pattern it always was: bad guy attacks, we fight, you guys get injured or die, and I fight alone. That part isn't going to change. The whole point of being here was for me to bypass the 'you guys get injured or die' part and just take him on. I was up here training and learning how to fight with the Silver Crystal and my hand to hand combat stuff."

"Oh yea that sounds real brilliant." Haruka muttered, "Totally planned out. Great job."

"Really? I thought so too." Serena said just as dryly.

"SHE WAS BEING SARCASTIC!" Rei, Mina, Lita, Ami, Michiru, Darien, Hotaru, and Rini yelled as Haruka stood there mouth open.

"Yea I knew that." Serena stated back rubbing her ear, "I think you guys just made me go deaf."

"Then hear this." Darien stated firmly, "The hell I am letting you face this bastard by yourself! You are letting us fight this thing and that will be the end of it! We are a team! There is no 'I' in team!"

Serena smirked, "Do not say it." Lita growled out seeing Serena's smirk widen, "Serena I am warning you-"

"There may not be an 'I' but there is a 'Me'."

"That is it!" Mina and Rei jumped on Lita and held her back, although they were tempted to let her go, "I am going to put a lightning bolt so far up your ass, that even Zeus wouldn't be able to pull it out! LET ME GO!"

"Not until you calm down and won't commit regicide." Mina said trying to keep a hold of Lita.

"Yea besides if you kill her, then we wouldn't get a chance!" Rei stated fighting to keep her hold as well, "And that is no fun!"

Lita stopped and kept glaring at a smiling Serena, "Girl you better stop smiling, or I am really going to shoot a lightning bolt up your ass."

Serena just laughed, "I am sorry but this is too much fun. You told me to not do something so of course naturally I had to do it anyway, but I'll stop, I promise." She held up the 'V' sign and winked. Lita calmed down and slowly, Mina and Rei released the Jupiter warrior, "Now as for committing regicide; that is frowned upon. Just FYI." Serena finished with a wide smile.

"FYI," Rei repeated arms crossed, "you better quit the attitude unless you want me to set your ass on fire."

"Or just have all of us use the Sailor Planet power on you." Michiru stated arms cross, and eyes narrowed. Everyone looked at her stunned, "What?"

Haruka looked at her and asked, "That seems a bit extreme."

"It does." Hotaru said quietly.

"So you all are allowed to threaten bodily harm, but I'm not?"

"We didn't say that; just that we are trying to inflict bodily harm, not maim or kill." Ami said to her water counterpart.

Serena had a bit of sweat on her as she scratched the back of her head as the scouts talked about the ways they could torture her and inflict bodily harm to make her awaken to her senses, "Thanks for the love guys. Really feeling it."

They weren't paying much attention to her words, so she just opted to sit on a damaged pillar and just be content in watching their interaction. Darien had stood closer to the group, silently watching his princess out of the corner of his eye while half paying attention to the words. He slowly made his way over to her, leaving Rini with the girls (who was not even trying to defend her future mother), "What? Not feeling like joining in my semi-lynch mob?" Serena asked fondly as she watched her friends.

"They are worried." Darien said softly, "As am I in fact." Serena hummed in acknowledgement at this. He waited a bit to see if she would answer him. When she didn't, he sighed and grabbed her hand and was surprised yet relieved when she leaned into his side and rested her head on his shoulder. The move was so familiar, he felt like they were sitting on their bench in the park, him reading a book, and holding her hand, and she providing silent comfort. He leaned his head on her own, watching the girls arguing who rightly deserves to kick Serena's butt and how to make her see sense.

He heard a little giggle escape Serena after a few moments, and heard her say, "Geeze you'd think that I turned invisible or something the way they are acting right now."

He chuckled as well, and saw that Rini finally managed to look over at them. She grinned widely, but went back to focusing on the scouts as Mina said, "Hello! Venus Love Me Chain! I can tie her up!"

"Yea because that worked out so well in the park." Rei huffed.

He stole a glance at Serena, who had closed her eyes and take a deep breath. Darien felt sadden that this is how she let her guard down now. Almost allowing herself to be this vulnerable, and he hated to ruin this for her, but they still had a serious discussion to have. He nudged her gently, "Serena, honey we still have to talk." He spoke softly.

This had gotten the girls' attentions now as they looked at their friend and leader, "Serena? You alright?" Mina asked worriedly as they came over to the couple.

Serena sighed and opened her eyes to look at them. She was feeling tired, but it wasn't bad. She supposed it was from all the worrying about how they would take everything. She saw their worried expressions and felt Rini squeeze her other hand and gave them all an easy smile, "Yea I am good. Just enjoying the moment."

"Enjoying us arguing how we would torture you to see sense?" Lita asked incredulously.

Serena just smiled and giggled a bit, "Serena, honey we do have to continue talking." Darien said reminding her.

Serena's smile fell a bit and she said, "If it is all the same to you, I'd rather just enjoy the moment a bit longer. Just be Serena, and you be Darien, and you all be my friends." She looked at them, "Not my protectors or Guardians or whatever title you choose to call yourselves."

"What about me?" Rini asked as behind her, the scouts all winced a bit.

Serena sat up and tapped her lap, Rini looked confused but sat on her teenage mother's lap, "You, well you can be my…what did I call you as insults?" Serena mockingly asked, "Spore, brat, uhm…your cover was cousin." Rini didn't know if she was supposed to laugh, or be insulted, instead she laughed as Serena nudged her in the sides, "Or I suppose I call you my Small Lady in the future huh?"

Rini leaned back and nodded, "Yea."

"So whatever works for you honey." Serena rested her chin on Rini's head and smiled at them all, "Come on, no long faces here. I know it will be difficult, but for now we are together. Let's just have this moment." The girls and Darien just looked at her and nodded their consent as they looked at her, the calming aura of the seemingly peaceful Earth behind her.

It was peaceful for all of those precious couple of moments, until seemingly out of nowhere, a strange man that sent the girls into almost attack mode as Darien jumped up, "Whoa hey!" The man stated hands raised, "I come in peace."

"Who are you?!" Mina demanded wondering why Serena didn't react as Rini had also jumped up when everyone went defensive.

Serena groaned as she hung her head, "Of course it would be you coming." Standing up she looked at them, "Its ok, really; guys Hermes. Hermes these are my friends." She said as a way of introduction.

"Hermes?" Ami asked stunned, almost dropping her Mercury computer from shock, "As in the Messenger?"

"The one in the same. However people tend to forget I was the King of Mercury." Hermes stated as he had bowed. Then looking at her closely, he said, "I heard from Diana and Ares that you all were here. I didn't really believe them, but it is good to see you again Sailor Mercury."

Ami didn't know what to say, but turns out she didn't have to as Serena cut in, "What message you got?"

Hermes looked at her, "Do I not get to spend time with you too? Nice. Glad to see that my teaching mean something to you. Sheesh." Seeing her look, he said, "Alright, fine. Fun sucker. Your presence in the arena is required ASAP." Seeing that she was still waiting he asked, "What?"

"Oh I do not know…how about why?" Serena demanded, "What is so important that I need to be in the arena instead of with my friends and family at this moment?"

"You're training with Ares, Athena, and myself of course." He grinned and bowed, "And you can bring them along, everyone is going to be there. Bye!" Before anyone could get a word in, he vanished.

"So much for a little moment." Serena groaned out.

"Wait what just happened?" Haruka asked confused, as did everyone else.

Serena looked at them and asked, "Ready for a family reunion?" No one knew how to respond as she began to walk away, and they jogged to catch up.


	7. Chapter 7

I apologize for not posting, last term was excruciating and I had like no time to write. Hopefully this term is slightly better, but I also had a bit of writer's block. Any who for anyone still out there, here it is.

 **The Crystal Wars**

As they walked through the complete destruction of the Moon Kingdom, everyone's thoughts were on the same thing, "What's the arena?" Lita asked as she glanced around the fallen pillars and the crumbled balconies.

"There were actually multiple types of arenas." Serena explained as she led them through the various types of debris, "Some were used for you all to practice your powers, others were for the guards and more hand to hand combat, and then ones that were used for the beginner guards."

"So what is this one we are going to?" Haruka asked as they passed by another large overturned pillar and a pile of shingles.

Serena smiled as she looked over her shoulder, "The one that was used for you all of course as it is the largest."

They continued their trek passed multiple demolished archways and crumbled stone pathways. Rini partially wondered how this might have looked back during the Silver Millennium, and another slid to the forefront of her mind, how it will look once Serena summons the Eternity Crystal?

Michiru looked at her princess curiously as Serena's smile faded as she faced back forward, "What's wrong?"

"Something is not sitting right, Hermes's attitude before has me on alert is all." Serena muttered more to herself that they had to strain to hear her.

Darien grabbed her arm and made Serena stop for a moment, "Why? What is this training supposed to be?"

Serena wasn't looking at them as she crossed her arms and leaned against one of half standing pillars. Her eyebrows were pinched together in thought, "It is exactly what it sounds like Darien. Training." She looks at them now and sees that they want more information, "Aries, Athena, Hermes, and my grandmother taught me how to fight in many different ways. Aries and Athena taught me battle tactics involving the mindset and hand to hand combat. Hermes and my grandmother focused on my powers; especially when it involved the Silver Crystal and the diamonds I would collect." She paused to push herself off the pillar and paced around them, arms still crossed and eyebrows still pinched together in concentration, "Occasionally to give me a challenge, they would double team me. However tonight seems different, like there is something I should be wary of once I enter the arena."

They looked at each other for a brief moment, "They wouldn't hurt you in anyway would they?" Rini asked slowly.

Serena looked at her and suddenly gave her a small smile, "No honey of course not." _At least not intentionally_ , Serena thought more to herself.

"Do you want us to enter in with you?" Darien asked as he grabbed Serena's shoulder in an offer of comfort.

Serena smiled softly, marveling in Darien's kind and loving nature despite her putting him (well all of her friends) though an unimaginable hell, "Sure, it's over this way."

Serena was back to leading the way through the remnants of the palace grounds. Before anyone else could ask her another question, they gasped at the sight that laid before them, "May I present to you, your former arena." Serena declared stopping as they marveled at the sight.

The arena was made of stone and concrete, with the statues depicting their planetary symbol around it made of marble. The arena itself alone stands roughly at six hundred and twenty by five hundred and thirteen feet, with three stories of arched entrances that are supported by eighty semi-circular columns, "This is almost like the Roman Colosseum." Ami gasped out, taking a hesitant step passed Serena and towards the structure, awing at its radiance.

"Where do you think they got the idea from?" Serena stated smirking with her arms crossed, "This thing used to be used for shows too. Not like the Romans…" She added hastily seeing their looks of astonishments, "There were some tournaments, but nothing like the crazy gladiator fights or animal fighting. Mother wouldn't allow that."

"How do we not remember this?" Rei asked looking around at the destruction around the pristine arena, "This would have been something we should have remembered."

"I agree." Hotaru spoke up, "This does seem something that we should have remembered."

Serena shrugged, "I guess you only remembered what you needed to remember."

"Wouldn't you think we would have needed to remember our former grandparents or the past history events that have led up to this moment?" Haruka spoke up, speaking that very thought that seemed to be on everyone's minds.

"Do not look at me; I didn't have us reborn the first time." Serena stated over her shoulder as they passed through the archway and immediately they gasped at the sight before them.

The inside was massive, room for over fifty thousand people; however some of those seats were already occupied and their eyes were on them, "Yea like I said, family reunion…minus one person." Serena muttered looking at Darien as everyone else was in awe and slightly self-conscious of the stares they were getting, "Sorry love."

Darien internally gulped, but his outward appearance tried to show indifference, "It's alright."

Serena saw right through it and grabbed his hand for comfort and support, "Serenity, so glad for you to finally join us!" Aries called out as he stared down at the main area of the arena from the royal viewing box, "Training tonight will be a little different, tonight will determine if you are indeed ready to become the new Master of the Eternity Crystal."

Serena stared up at him, then Diana appeared and spoke calmly yet loud enough to be heard for everyone in the stands, "I do truly apologize in advance; but for that to happen your Scouts, daughter, and Prince are not allowed to help you in this. So with that said-" She waved her hands and the Scouts, Darien, and Rini disappeared in a cloud of smoke and joined the other royals in the stands, leaving Serena alone in the middle of the fighting ring area.

"Hey you let us help her this instant!" Darien demanded.

"Yea she is our responsibility!" Mina yelled back as she stood up.

Rini stood up as well, "She is my mother!" Raising her transformation wand, she was about to call out her chant, when suddenly the wand flew out of her hands, "HEY!"

Before the other girls had a chance to react, their wands were also taken from them, "As I said," Diana started to say calmly, yet with much authority with the wands in her hand over the much loud indignant protest from the Scouts and Darien, "I am truly sorry. I know you are her protectors, and have done an extraordinary job at that, but Serenity needs to do this. You will get these back once she is finished."

"Bull shit!" Lita yelled back, "She doesn't have to do anything. She has proved herself multiple times over, her actions alone should speak for herself."

"We are not going to-" Rei started to say.

"Enough!" Serena now yelled as she turned to face her Scouts, Darien, and Rini as they were getting ready to jump down to her aid. They looked at her now, "I know you all are trying to protect me, but if this is the way it has to be, then so be it. Now sit down." She gave them a look, and reluctantly they backed off.

The other royals looked at the group in hesitance and Aphrodite glided down from her seat to sit next to Mina, as Aries resumed speaking to Serena, and said to her granddaughter, "It will be alright, I know Aries and Diana will not try to hurt her."

"With all due respect, but just who the hell are you?" Haruka demanded to know as she stood up with her arms crossed.

One man with blue hair snarled out with his arms crossed, "The former rulers of your respective planets, that's who." Then he smiled deviously, "Former King of Pluto, Hades at your service." He held his hand out.

"Wait, Hades? God of the Dead?" Ami asked eyebrows raised, everyone else eyeing the man with speculation.

Hades snorted seeing where their thoughts were going, "Underworld technically, but I never agreed to go by that. No idea where those mortals got that idea."

"Aphrodite, former Queen of Venus." The women who had originally spoken said gently, pushing passed Hades.

Mina looked at her, "I am sorry if that is supposed to mean something to me;" everyone looked at Mina surprised at her bluntness, the true position of her leadership of the scouts coming through, "however I still do not know you, nor do I know what is happening. I just know that I do not like this one bit." The others looked toward them as Aries continued to explain the first task as battle droids suddenly appeared out of the ground, standing in an offensive manner weapons aimed at her Princess and future Queen.

Aphrodite looked at Mina surprised for a fleeting moment, but then a look of understanding crossed her face, "You do not trust us."

Mina looked at her, and looked her up and down. This was the woman that she always claimed to be a descendant of, to be proud of, hell she was Sailor Venus, the Sailor Scout of Love, and next to her was the former Queen of Venus, a Goddess of mythology, and as it turns out, her grandmother. Mina looked away suddenly finding herself under the other woman's stare, "Not particularly right now no."

Aphrodite gave the younger girl a heartbroken look and looked away back to the training field below. Aries had waved his hand and had soon the droids were attacking Serena. They gasped as she ducked, rolled, and dodge before engaging with her own sword, "Why doesn't she just blast them?" Rini demanded to know as she had stood up to get a better look as Serena took on a powerful offensive attack.

"It's a warm up. No powers allowed for her just yet." They looked to see who spoke, "Poseidon, former King of Neptune." He said as he nodded to them.

It was at that moment they saw something go flying into the air that they looked back at Serena. She was panting, back facing the droid and its body falling to the ground, head gone. She stood back up, looking towards her grandmother and Aries, "What's next?" She called up, barely out of breath. It was then that the incident in the field came to their mind, just how much had Serena been holding back during that fight?

Aries was whispering something to Diana, who went from smiling gently to looking grim. Aphrodite and the others in the stands got worried, "Hey what's happening?" They looked to see Athena and Hermes coming up the stairs to them.

"Why are you not down there? I thought this was her training session." Jade, the former Queen of Jupiter stated motioning to the battle ground.

"We were told there was a change in plans. What is going on?" Hermes asked looking startled. Then seeing Ami, he grins, "Hey there honey!" Ami smiled hesitantly, but waved back.

Darien caught the sudden chill in the air despite the easy-going attitude displayed the messenger's face, "What change?" He demanded to know.

They looked at him now as if they were just realizing who he was to Serena, "Well, well, splitting image wouldn't you say?" Hades drawled out as he came close to the Earth Prince.

Athena nodded as she crossed her arms, "Strong jaw, those dark eyes, and that hair." She came up to him and touched his hair. Darien quickly pulled away and she huffed at his glare in amusement, "Yes that is Endymion's grandson alright."

"Yes he is and you know what else? He is our future king." Lita stated firmly glaring at the woman.

"I beg your pardon, it is that we hadn't really seen Endymion since the time of the council meeting where he had been banished from the Alliance." Poseidon stated grimly as he looked at the Earth Prince with suspicion.

"Yea, Endymion attacked Aries and tried to steal the crystal. That was some fight." Hermes said in a tone of reminiscing.

Athena crossed her arms, "If Aries had his way Endymion would have been executed for sure. Head on a platter, or on a spike."

"Well thank goodness it wasn't up to him. Diana saw to that." Aphrodite commented lightly, eyes clouded slightly with sorrow. Mina picked up on this and her own eyes widened as she looked to the stands on the other side, as the person in question was in a minor argument with the former King of Mars. _It couldn't be…_ she thought as she looked down to her own Princess.

Rei was tired of the back and forth, being ignored as she demanded to know, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that our exulted ruler that we had signed our pledge to had a thing for the Earth King." Hades drawled out.

Darien almost shrunk at their accusatory gazes, keyword meaning _almost_. He had been about to retort something, when Aries's voice rang out, "Serenity this is going to be your final test."

Serena had been waiting patiently while her grandmother and the former King had talked heatedly. She could feel the emotions of her friends that ranged from concerned, to annoyed, to frustration, and curiously enough shock from Mina and Darien. She wanted to look over to them, but had chosen to stretch out and keep her focus. Standing back at attention, she could see her grandmother's apologetic look, and Aries's one of reluctance as well, just what were they going to give her?

"For this final task, you have to face what keeps you up at night;" Serena shrunk back away from the balcony as he stared right at her, "what eats at you from the inside, and what your worse fear." Serena, now looked at her friends, and especially locked eyes with Darien. Aries saw this exchange and for a brief moment, bit his lip. Every former royal knew Serena's fear, and it was for this reason everyone gasped out loud as he delivered the final blow, "Got it." With the snap of his fingers, a dark cloud started to pool around them.

The arena started to shake madly with gusting winds swirling in such a rage that was almost tornado like swirling around them, "What is happening?!" Rini cried out gripping onto Darien.

"I don't know!" Darien yelled back, holding on to her as if she was going to get sucked away at any moment.

The other royals just calmly stood around them, "We are going into Serenity's worse fear." Hermes said darkly as a dark black fog engulfed them.

"Wait what?!" The spectators asked as their voices echoed. None of them responded as they heard an ear piercing crack of thunder.

Suddenly the fog lifted and they found themselves surrounded by darkness, but the Scouts, Darien, and Rini felt a heavy weight being forced on their shoulders and a number of emotions that were constricting them: despair, loss, pain, and agony. It was so much that they were having trouble breathing, then another wave hit them and it took all they had to not clutch their heads in pain, "Focus on the positives." Aphrodite's voice came to them sounding like they could hear it from the underwater, "Come on focus on the love. Do not let this over power you." She continued to say.

They all tried to focus on her voice, and desperately tried to take deep breaths as they focused on the love they had for each other, and for Serena; on their friendship that has existed and triumphed for over millenniums, the hope for the future that they had seen. Soon it was getting easier to breathe and Rei was the first to recover, "What happened?" She asked as Darien was next to recover, followed by Rini, Lita, Ami, Mina, Haruka, Michiru, and lastly Hotaru.

"It is the side-effect of entering Serena's fear." Hermes said as he crossed his arms, "What you felt is what she feels every time something happens. Part of the other multiple reasons why we pulled her away from you all."

"All that came from Serena?" Ami gasped out, still getting used to the regular flow of oxygen to her lungs.

Michiru looked down blow, she could see that Serena was standing ram rod straight, hand on the hilt of her sword, as Aries called out, "Anything you do from here on out, is fair game. By the order of the ancient rules, begin!"

Everyone leaned forward over the balcony as Serena was turning in a circle when there was a sinister laugh that radiated and echoed around her, "See Serenity I told you it was useless. You are worthless."

Serena swallowed and ignored it as her senses were on high alert. Everything was pulsing around her, and suddenly that was when she sensed an oncoming attack. She ducked out of the way and pulled her sword from the hilt, just blocking the attack from the monster before her.

"SERENA!" The scouts yelled, fighting the urge to go down there and help their leader and friend, who looked like to be in a dance of death.

"If this is her fear, why does she not know that this isn't real?" Hotaru asked.

The former King of Saturn, who had been in quiet observance of everything around him, spoke softly to answer the young girl's question, "Essentially she does know. It is just that this fight has been brought to life. She knows that this is her fear and that some part of this isn't real."

"But it is real enough that she cannot control what happens." The former King of Uranus, Caelus spoke having been just an onlooker before as well.

"This is not going to end well." Michiru said turning back towards the fight as the monster was sent flying into the wall of the arena from Serena's powerful blow to the side.

Athena spoke up now coming to Michiru's side, "She is doing well; incorporating her powers and hand to hand combat abilities." Then looking at the worried look on their faces, she continued to say, "I know you all may hate us right now for what we have done, but really it was for the best. We," she motioned to Diana, Hermes, Aries, and herself, "have trained her for this moment."

"I do not care what you think." Darien growled out as he was trying really hard to fight the urge to go down there as, "As far as I am concerned right now, you are the enemy and if she gets severly hurt because of this;" Darien pauses and looks at each of them in turn, "you will pay."

Hades smirked now, "Funny, bold comment from a planet that we banished over a millennium ago. You have balls."

Darien's hand balled into a fist, and he wished that the former King of Pluto would take a swing at him, just so he could send a rose through the man's eye, "Daddy!" Rini yelled to him. He turned and looked to see Chaos, in his grotesque human form, and Serena facing off; except Darien could pick up that something was wrong with Serena.

There was absolute silence until Chaos lunged forward so fast that they barely see it happening. Serena jumps up to dodge the attack as Chaos's sword is slammed into the ground so hard that the ground underneath it is shattered with small to medium sized pebbles are flying into the air as Serena is redrawing her sword. Chaos, at the same moment, shoots the blade upward and it strikes Serena in the side, "SERENA!" They yell out once more as Chaos then connects his foot with the side of Serena's head and she is flown into a different wall of the arena.

On the other side, Diana looks to Aries, "We have to stop this." She now looks to the scouts, Darien, and her young great-granddaughter, "Aries please, we have to stop this. Serenity isn't gaining control of this. This is too much for her."

Aries shakes his head, "We cannot. We activated the ancient rules. She has to beat this monster. This is her fear."

"Do you not sense that something is wrong with her fear? Or that something is wrong with her?"

Aries looks down now as the monster speaks, voice panting and menacing that it even sends chills down his spine, "Interesting, you twisted your waist to avoid being impaled. Not too bad really. But I had thought your finish would have been better than that." Serena is panting heavily on one knee clutching her side.

Chaos again lunges forward and Serena reacts, there is a radiating clash of the blades but that is not good enough because Chaos then makes another sweep and Serena again goes flying do the force of the power, "I've had enough of this!" Darien yelled and he plants one foot on the ledge of the balcony.

Aphrodite and Poseidon each place a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to hold him back, "No you cannot interfere!" Hermes yelled as the two try to pull him off.

"The hell I can! This has gone on long enough and I am pulling her out of there!" Darien yelled.

"You can't do anything about it." Hades growled out, "None of you can so do not get any ideas." He added looking at the girls as they too tried to get down to the fighting area, but found that there was a magical barrier in place, "It is part of the ancient rules. You are all bound by it."

"Ancient rules?" Ami asked.

"The rules set forth by the treaty of the Golden Age." Poseidon spoke having released Darien when he was sure the Prince wouldn't try anything stupid, "Anyone who signed the treaty is bound by these rules, meaning you all cannot interfere."

Darien looked down again as Serena struggled to her feet, "Great history lesson, and I will before to find out more, but for now what I gather is that Earth was never part of the treaty." He took a deep breath and called forth his princely transformation, which in contrast triggered the girls' Sailor Scout transformations.

The girls smiled and blocked the royals from Darien as he broke through the barrier and ran into the makeshift battle ground, "What the hell is he doing?!" Aries yelled.

"I am defending my princess and there is nothing you can do about it!" Darien yelled up to him and Diana smiled softly in response, "From my understanding Earth never signed this ancient bull shit treaty so therefore I am not bound by these ancient rules of yours like the girls are!"

"Get him Endymion!" Lita and Haruka yelled.

Darien ignored Serena's manifestation of Chaos and knelt down by Serena's side, "Love?" Darien calls out as he tries to calm Serena's breathing.

The royals were glaring at their relations, but Ami turned away from them and was finally able to summon her Mercury computer and imputing whatever observations she was able to remember. Hermes stepped aside, fully aware of the glares he was receiving; "That was clever of him to release that little draw back to the rules." He admitted out loud to no one in particular.

"The guy was Harvard bound before the fight with Chaos the first time around." Rei stated.

"And he is my father." Rini said smugly, "He will be the future King of Crystal Tokyo."

Sensing there was not going to be a fight everyone relaxed momentarily, "She is at her limit though." Athena said rather grimly, "In fact I am amazed she is lasting this long."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mina demanded to know.

"It means this is not going the way Aries or Diana thought it was going to go." Hades stated, his smugness not present as he pointed to the other side of the arena. The girls looked over to the duo and saw their worried looks before refocusing on Darien with Serena.

Darien looks at Serena again and tries once more to reach out to her, "Serena love, please answer me?" He says again as Serena continues to pant not even bothering to raise her head.

"Pathetic. To think I took you as a threat. I should have just killed you myself all these months ago." Chaos spoke as he looked on, "You are weak; they will die again because of you! You cannot even protect yourself how do you expect to protect them?!"

Darien stood up fast as Chaos got back into position, "Stand aside boy! You think she is worth your protection?!"

"I will not let you hurt her anymore." Darien stated standing tall in front of Serena.

Chaos smiled wickedly, "This is not your fight now stand aside."

"No, this is no longer your fight." He answered, "I am tired of you threatening our family and our planet!" Just then his form started to glow gold and immense power started to swirl around him, "I am ending this right now!" Darien yelled and suddenly everyone was blinded by a bright light and all they could hear was Chaos's howling yell of pain.

Once the light faded, everyone unshielded their eyes and saw that they were out of Serena's fear realm. The girls hesitated for a brief moment, and ended up jumping down into the arena, "What just happened?" Poseidon asked astounded of the immense power that had come from the young man.

"He broke the challenge." Hermes said impressed.

"Little punk." Hades responded, but the tone that was meant to be indifferent was lost.

While the others were discussing this, Aphrodite and Athena remained silent, just watching the scene down below as they try to get Serena to come back to them, "You sense it too?" Aphrodite asked her friend.

Athena's eyebrows were drawn together in concentration and the others quieted down to listen to them, "Yes. This isn't over." She then looked up and tried to catch Diana or Aries's eyes.

"Bastard Earth Prince." Aries mumbled, "He messed with the ancient rules!"

"I was against this. Why did you do this to her?" Diana asked furiously.

"You are too soft on her. She needed this. She-"

"Aries!" He looked over and saw Athena standing with Aphrodite and the others behind them. He looked to where she was pointing and that was when they noticed the backing away the girls were doing from their Princess, "Serena!" They were yelling.

Her form was glowing blue and even though Darien banished the challenge that was before in physical form, it just continued in her head, amplified by the power of the Sancy diamond. Chaos's voice echoed in her mind, "It's really pitiful Serenity. Don't you care about them at all?"

There was nothing Serena could do as he watched as her friends and family was summoned before her, "NO!" Serena yelled dark energy had her detained so she couldn't attack him. She watched as Chaos blasted them all…saving Darien and Rini for last.

Darien tried to re-summon his Golden Crystal in an attempt to break through the horrifying vision he could sense in her, Serena!" He pleaded, "Fight it. It is a vision, you have to fight it!"

Rini came forward and with her own Pink Crystal, she tries to reach her mother, "Mommy!"

"DARIEN! RINI! NO!" At Serena's yell, everyone that was standing next to her was blown backwards from the power that radiated off of her. They all groaned as they struggled to sit up, but their pain was quickly vanished from their bodies, leaving shock in place.

Serena was now standing, sword in hand with a deadly gleam to it, her head was still bowed, but they all heard her chilling voice, "YOU WILL PAY CHAOS!" Her eyes snapped opened sending the most menacing vibe that they didn't think Serena could possess. Her eyes were red and wild with rage.

Before any of them could respond, she moved with deadly quickness and precision towards Darien. He pushed Rini out of the way towards Mina as he just barely managed to block Serena's sword with his own, "Serena! Please it's me!"

Serena didn't respond to his pleas. All she saw was Galaxia forcing Darien to fight her and when Beryl brainwashed him, "Not this time you bastard! You will not trick me again!"

Rini pushed herself away from Mina, "Come on we have to help Daddy!"

They nodded and was move, when suddenly there was a barrier in front of them, "Not this shit again!" Haruka yelled. Then looking up she sees the royals with their hands all raised, "What is the big idea?! You want our princess to kill her prince?!"

"That is not our intention." Aries called down, "Believe what you may, but you all still cannot interfere. The Earth Prince broke the rules and now has to pay the price."

"Serena wake up!" He yelled desperately trying to get her to see reason as they pushed against one another.

By some effort, he finally manages to push Serena away from him. She is breathing heavily and so is he. He is unaware that he is trapped with the person he loves deeply, who is currently trying to kill him. _Sick and twisted irony_ , he vaguely thinks as he recalls the episodes Serena tells him when he asks about the fighting that she had done and how each one ended. _Note to self, stop getting brainwashed_ , is his last fleeting thought.

He tries to sense her spirit and reach out to her, but all he senses is the thick tension and the power radiating off of Serena is dark and sinister with some ancient power of authority. Darien opened his mouth to try and call out to her again, but she again lunges forward and takes him by surprise with her speed and agility. Their swords clang and somehow, with lethal maneuvering, she slices his sword, sending the top half flying into the stands, causing Aries and Diana to duck to the side. Then in another deadly display, she catches Darien off guard completely, pinning him to the ground, "This is the end Chaos, your reign of terror ends."

"NO!" Rini yells as she feels someone drawing her close. The rest of the scouts are trying their hardest now to break down the barrier.

Rini just managed to pull away and look to see Serena about to make the final deadly strike. The sword is raised, "MOMMY!" Rini yelled loudly pushing past the older girls, in a flash of bright pink light, the barrier is shattered and the sword is halted just above Darien's head.

The light fades and everyone watches with bated breath as the sword disappeared and Serena's eyes began to focus. Darien looked up seeing that her eyes were no longer wild and crazed, "Darien?" Serena questioned in a haze as she collapsed. Darien forced her to look at him, "What happened?"

Darien, in response, pulled her close into a hug, "It doesn't matter. You are back. It's over." The girls slowly gather around their friend and the royals wait around a moment or two longer before each one disappearing, except for Aphrodite, Athena, Aries, and Diana. Diana holds her chest and sends Aries a glare as she hears Serena ask, "But the task, what happened?"

Aries growls as he feels Diana slam her heel down on his foot, clearing his throat he calls down, "We will need to discuss the events of the tasks, for now though you may leave." With that he vanishes along with the others, but not before Serena sees Diana give her a guilt ridden look.

Serena pulls away, wincing as she tries to stand, but with the help of Rei and Lita, she manages to lean against them, "Come on Kitten, lets get you cleaned up." Haruka says as she looks around trying to find an exit.

"Yea that does look bad." Ami agreed as she uses her computer to try and scan her friend.

"I do not care what we do so long as someone please tells me what the hell happened." Serena states firmly, but none the less gives them directions back to the mediation house.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Crystal Wars**

"Just what the hell was that?!" Selenity yelled at her mother and the former rulers of the planets that had once been her allies.

"Now just-" Aries started to say when he was suddenly slapped across the face by the enraged former Queen.

"She is my daughter." Selenity snarled low and dangerously, "You had no right. Absolutely no right to do that to _**my**_ _**daughter**_."

Selenity had seen the whole thing that had gone down in the arena and she was infuriated. Sailor Jupiter was right, there were other ways to have tested Serenity; the whole challenge had gotten out of hand; not that she ever believed for one minute that it was in hand to begin with. Most importantly, her own mother had done nothing to stop it from happening, which is who she was looking at right now, "So I ask you again, just what the hell was that?" She kept her voice firm and deadly.

Diana sighed, they had sensed a breach in the realm not too long ago when they were debating on Serenity's exam, and this is how they ended up on the receiving end of a mother's tirade, "It was her final test. She was supposed to defeat her darkest fear."

"Yes that worked out real well didn't it?" Selenity spat as she walked around them. She had ordered Pluto to open the door to the Nether Realm, a separate realm from the Void. It was really meant for those that had yet to move on, or had moved on but something had called them back. It was a little known fact that she had wished to remain attached to the Silver Crystal so long as Serenity needs her; and right now her daughter needs her now more than ever, hence how she was able to enter the realm of the ancient royals, "Didn't it ever once occur to you to teach her how to properly use the Heart of Eternity first, _**before**_ playing with her mind?" Selenity asked having taken a deep breath to process her mother's words and to calm her raging temper.

Her answer was greeted with mostly silence for a few moments, until Hermes bravely spoke up, "We thought she would be able to handle it. We didn't think about the severe impact the Heart would have on her psyche."

"Clearly that was obvious." Selenity spoke, not at all pleased with the answer.

Aries stood from his seat, "Alright this is enough." Selenity looked at him and met his gaze just as sharply as he was giving her, "Serenity would have been fine if it were not for Endymion."

"Excuse me, but were you watching the same battle we were?" Athena asked stunned before Selenity could retort.

"I agree." Hades drawled out, "Even I did not like the vibes the Princess was giving off during that fight."

Everyone started to argue at once, before Selenity yelled, "Enough! I am still here you know." They looked back at her, "My whole point to this is the fact that you knew it was wrong." She growled to Aries, then looking at her own mother she added, "And you did nothing to stop it."

"You are right." Diana spoke up calmly as she placed a hand on Aries's shoulder to keep him quiet, "I didn't do anything, however Aries is also correct. She would have stood a better chance if Endymion had not interfered. Now wait-" she held up her hand to stop the onslaught of outburst that were about to come from Selenity, "the challenge was for her to face her fears. She was doing that. Endymion intervened and forced those fears back, which intern escalated her fears further. That was the price for breaking the rules. Those fears manifested itself in her mind to the point where she thought Chaos impersonated Endymion, and therefore-"

"She started fighting him." Selenity finished as the scenario once again played out in her memory, only this time she was remembering it as a Queen, and not a worried mother. Selenity sat herself down in a seat, making everyone else sit down with her. She clasped her hands together and rested her forehead on her fists. _Some afterlife_ , she thought bitterly to herself. Taking a deep breath she asked, "So she didn't defeat the challenge, she essentially forfeited."

"Not quite." Aphrodite stated slowly, looking at her colleagues warily, "It was not just the Earth Prince that broke the challenge either." She waved her hand, and in the middle of the table is a vision of the tail end of the fight. They watched in silent awe as Rini's power is displayed, shattering the shield that had surrounded the Moon Princess and her Earth Prince, "She too managed to break it."

"Which means in the future, they broke the treaty at some point." Caelus muttered.

"Interesting twist of events." Once more the Saturn's king stated, breaking his silent observance.

Hades snorted, "Which just gives us more trouble." Leaning forward he states, "We are here to discuss her test results, not what may or may not be 'interesting'." Then looking at Selenity he continues with, "Are you done reading us the riot act now? With your leave can we focus and figure this out?"

"Watch yourself." Diana stated firmly coming to her daughter's defense, "As a mother myself, I understand where she is coming from. After all Serenity is my granddaughter."

"Which is why we think you shouldn't be a part of this discussion any longer." Hermes now mutters softly. Everyone looked at him stunned, "What? You were all thinking it, I am just a messenger."

"Well you could've said it more gently." Poseidon retorted back.

Diana looked at everyone now, "Really? After all this, you all decide now that I shouldn't have a part in this?"

"You are too close to the situation; like last time." Aries spoke up, arms crossed and expression soft as he watched her face fall, "I admit that I was wrong and you were right. I didn't do what we agreed, that is all I am saying as far as that goes, but Diana;" she looked at him now, "You have to admit that you are too soft on her. No matter what we decide, I do not believe she is ready. You know that."

Selenity stood up now, seeing that she no longer has a part to play in these discussions. However she did have one last important thing to tell them, "Actually I feel as if my mother should stay. She can be my advocate in this; however I want to tell them and explain what all this meant." They looked at her stunned for a moment, "By the way I am not asking for permission; I am telling you what I want and that I am going to do it." With that she nodded her head and disappeared before their eyes, leaving a group of ancient royals to decide on her daughter's fate.

 **-Snoopykid-**

It wasn't easy, but they had told Serena everything that had happened during the 'training' exercise. Serena was devastated and pale as she had sipped her tea that Lita had made for all of them, and had pushed her food away; something that they had never seen Serena do. She had looked so heartbroken by that point and Rini had pushed herself away from the table and tried to offer her future mother some form of comfort, but Serena had pushed her away as well, claiming she needed to go laydown, "I swear I am throwing a rose into Aries's eyes next time we cross paths." Darien growled as he pounded his fist on the table.

"I think we all deserve a piece of that dip-shit, not just you." Lita snarled low as she tried to offer some more food, not that anyone was actually eating anyway.

"Then I go first." Rei commented, "He is supposed to be representing the planet Mars, and has failed in that responsibility tonight."

"All our former rulers did." Mina said standing now, once again her bubbly personally masked by her one of authority, "In my mind, they neglected to let us do our duty to protect our Princess. Next time we see them, we will not hold back." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Hotaru looked at her friend, and laid a hand on Rini's shoulder as she looked at her father, sending him her own supportive look. She would be right alongside her friends, especially after seeing the way her mother was treated, "My my;" they jumped and saw a figure materialize in front of them, "have I walked in on a munity?" Queen Selenity gracefully walked towards them, "Treason perhaps?"

"Treason?" Mina asked speaking on behalf of the Scouts and bowed, causing each of them to bow in return, "Never against the Moon your majesty."

Queen Selenity laughed softly and waved off the sudden onslaught of protests and explanations, "Of course you weren't; I wasn't really being serious. It was a rhetorical question Sailor Venus. Now come on, no need for the bowing or getting upset." They rose from their spots and looked at the Queen in confusion, "I heard what you all said-"

"Sorry for interrupting," Haruka said cutting the Queen off, "but if you did, then are you going to try and stop us from punishing those disgraceful rulers after what they did to our princess?"

"Because if you are-" Lita started with.

Selenity held up her hand and once more the protests died on each of their tongues, "Now wait please." She looked at Haruka and Lita, knowing that aside from Darien and Rei, they were the most outspoken and the most stubborn of the group, "You are all upset with the events here tonight, I was too. In fact I laid into them pretty hard after having witnessed the treatment my daughter was given." She then locked eyes with each of them intern, "Be that as it may, it was explained to me that due to the circumstances that the challenge was given, the way things escalated was not their doing."

"What does that mean?" Michiru asked slowly, not liking where this was headed one bit.

Queen Selenity took a deep breath and looked at Darien, "It was indirectly your fault I am afraid."

"Wait what?" Darien asked jumping up from his seat as the girls looked at him in shock, "I tried to save her! How did I end up hurting her?"

"As it was explained to me the challenge was for her to face her fears. The fear of not being strong enough to face Chaos, the fear of failing, the fear of all of you," she motioned to them, "getting hurt or killed; having then you all coming back and being made to fight you just so she could beat Chaos, almost like she's had to do in the past in some shape or form." Selenity paused to allow her words to sink in a bit before continuing on, "Serenity was doing just that, she was battling internally with herself and at the same time fighting Chaos; however when Endymion intervened and forced those fears back, this caused an escalation in her fears in her mind. They manifested itself the point where she thought Chaos impersonated Endymion. It was the price that was required to stop the physical match in accordance to the rules."

"So she had no choice but to fight him." Ami said as things started to make sense now.

Darien stood still as he swallowed a lump in his throat at what was said to him, "She would have stood a better chance had I not interfered." He muttered as he now placed his head in his hands, "I really did this to her."

Selenity shook her head and stated, "You did not mean to, part of it was the Heart of Eternity. The diamond that allows her to sense emotions." She clarified, "Really they should have trained her to better block its influence, but they thought that she would have had better control of her emotions."

They looked at each other, processing each of Selenity's explanations since the fight had ended, and how currently there is a debate going on as to whether or not Serena had indeed finished the challenge. Rei had been listening mostly since her outburst before the former Queen appeared looked sharply at her and ask, "She came out of it though. What is there to debate about?"

Selenity looked at Rini in response. Their eyes looked towards the young Sailor Scout in confusion, causing Rini to slowly back away under their stare, "Why are you all looking at me for?" She asked, "What did I do?"

As a response, Selenity slowly glided out of the kitchen area, and they followed behind her. Once they were in the mediation room, she waved her hand towards the fire as it erupted at her command, showing them what she wanted them to see: the tail end of the fight. They all winced when they heard Rini's devastating yell, and then watched in silent awe as Rini's power is displayed, shattering the shield that had surrounded Serena and Darien. Once it faded and the fire started to once again flicker gently, Selenity spoke, "It was not just Endymion that broke the challenge either." She then looked to Rini, "You did as well by pulling Serenity out of her nightmare."

"So are you saying I cost Mama a chance at summoning this Eternity Crystal, and destroyed a chance at restoring the future?" Rini asked, her voice cracking and a rock the size of a bolder developing in the pit of her stomach, "All because I didn't want my mom killing my dad?"

"Easy Small Lady." Selenity said gently, trying to get her granddaughter to calm down as Darien pulled her close, "I discretely spoke with Sailor Pluto before coming here. There is still a fork in the road, make no mistake about that;" She looked at each of them in turn before looking back at the girl, "but the Crystal Tokyo you know is showing brighter than it did when you left."

"Of course it would," Haruka muttered arms crossed, "it was non-existent when she lef-OW!" She shot Michiru a glare as she rubbed her shoulder, "What did you do that for? I was only speaking the truth."

Michiru glared back, not at sorry for what she did as they looked at the two of them, "It was an unnecessary truth that did not need to be reminded of."

"Anyway, I thought Serena ordered Pluto to report to her though if anything changes." Lita stated slowly as they shot the duo one last look, as Rini took a big sigh of relief.

Selenity smiled, "Well nothing had changed. Serenity knows there was a fork now after Pluto's hint of watching the time gate, besides so long as I am in this plane, I do wield some amount of influence still." She gave a small smile that it was clear where Serena had gotten her own smile from, "But that is not the only reason why I am here though. From what I understand, you wish to know more about this alliance and King Endymion the First's role. I am correct?"

Darien shifted under the Queen's gaze, but then stood tall as he said, "Yes, I think we all deserve to know what is going on further. Serena has filled us in on what she understands-"

"She understands more than what she really told you. Please do not be cross with her," Selenity stated quickly seeing the uproar about to start up once more, "she essentially told you all what you needed to know. It was part of the agreement. However, I am under no such obligations." Before anymore protesting could start, she waved her hand.

The fire roared to life once more and turned a pale blue color. Selenity looked at them and gave them another one of her own secret smiles, with a wave of her other hand a sudden gust of wind pushed them towards the fire, and they felt themselves falling into its flames before vanishing from the room, "You should not have done that." Selenity turned to see a ghostly outline of her daughter, dressed in her future attire, standing before her.

"Serenity." Selene greeted, not moving away from the fire, "I did not know you learned how to astral project."

Physically, Serena was still in a small almost coma like state recovering from the amount of trauma her body, mind, and spirit endured over the last couple days. She was exhausted physically and emotionally, not having been given much time to rest. However even in this coma like state, she sensed a disturbance in the building, and immediately knew that her family was no longer in this plane. Her mind fought to wake her body up, but due to the trauma it wasn't able to, so instead her mind focused on the outer part of her body and forcefully ejected her spirit into the physical plane, much like how King Endymion appeared to them in Crystal Tokyo during the Black Moon invasion, "Truthfully, I did not really know I could do this either. I just felt something was amiss, and seeing as how my body was too tired and is still recovering, I suppose this is the best thing to do at this point." Her smile fell as she looked around and did not see her friends, but oddly though she could still sense them, "Mother, where are they? What did you do?"

"They wanted to learn the complete truth of the failed treaty." Selenity spoke looking back towards the fire, "So I helped them find a way."

"By sending them into a memory?" Serena asked approaching her mother, "Mother I-"

"Yes, you were only granted to tell them what they needed to know and you couldn't tell them any more than that." Selenity stated, "I knew that, however seeing as I interfered, I gave you an out."

Serena looked at her mother and nodded, "Thank you."

Selenity smiled and reached out to touch her daughter, expecting to have her hand go through her like always, but was surprised to feel actual skin, and Serena couldn't help but lean into her mother's touch, "This is odd, but nice. I suppose we are in the same plane now." Selenity stated, tears in her eyes.

"For now. All though I think they could use some explaining to help them understand what has happened." Serena stated softly as she regretfully pulled away stepping closer to the fire.

"Will you be able to go through with them?"

"This is my first time astral projecting, so I guess I will find out." Before she stepped any closer, she tries to focus on Darien, Rini, and her Scouts essence, "I feel them."

Selenity watched as her daughter stepped through the fire and vanished, "I love you my daughter." She whispered before she vanished, unable to stay in the plane any longer.

They were falling, and bracing themselves to hit the stone floor when suddenly they felt a jolt and stopped just shy of the floor, "Hi!" They heard a familiar voice and looked to see Serena standing before them with her hand outstretched.

"Serena?" They questioned and then they dropped to the floor lightly. Getting up their mouths dropped at her form. To them she looked like a ghost, and definitely for Rini, this was a really bad flashback, "You didn't…" She stuttered out, almost clinging to Darien with tears in her eyes.

"No, honey no." Serena knelt down almost beckoning her forward. Rini moved over to her, but when she tried to touch her mother's hand, her own hand went right through her. Serena saw in her mind, Rini's memory of running right through Endymion after seeing him in the palace during the time when Crystal Tokyo was in shambles and then herself encased in crystal, "Honey this isn't like last time." Serena was quick to say as she saw her future daughter panicking, then looking at her friends' still shocked faces she quickly explains, "I sensed something happening, I tried to wake up, but my body was still so weak from the past few days, so I guess long story short I can astral project…" Then looking at herself in her future dress she says, "Why like this, I do not know…"

Darien swallowed and walked over to her and stood next to his daughter, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "You are full of surprises aren't you?" He attempted to crack a smile.

Serena met him half way and have him a grin back, "Well you cannot have all the fun can you?"

The girls eventually got over their own shock and joined the small family, "So what exactly did your mother do to us? Where are we?" Mina asked looking around curiously.

Serena looked around and said, "You are in the Moon Palace…many years before the Silver Millennium."

"We went back in time?!" Rei exclaimed as she narrowed in on her friend and future Queen, "Serena just what the-"

"We are not in the timeline, we are in a memory. One that I was shown months before starting the diamond hunt." Serena explained solemnly, "I told you what was needed to know. I know I said I would not hold back and that was not my intention. We were getting around to telling you all the full story."

Before they could speak, doors suddenly opened and it was as if a brilliant light surrounded them, "No one will see us, we are on lookers." Serena stated before they could try to defend themselves as they saw people coming towards them.

They watched in awe as the line of people walked passed, it was as if they were invisible, "An alliance began to form from the ashes of the fallen; this same alliance was supposed to mark the end to the chaos and destruction. But instead it did the opposite. Ten royals from the respective quadrants of the Milkyway came to discuss peace." Serena explained as she led them into the conference room.

"Is that-" Haruka started to ask as she motioned to each royal that entered behind them.

Serena nodded, "Yes all this was led by my grandmother Diana. All of these people are your grandparents." They continued watching the precession as each one appeared in ceremonial dress take their seats. Darien was especially surprised to finally see his grandfather, King Endymion the first of Earth. His colors represented the beauties the Earth held for his people. The jet black hair covered the emerald jewel on his crown. His dark eyes looked about the room avoiding the other royals as much as possible but his eyes locked on that of the King of Mars.

Once everyone was seated, Diana stood up and spoke, "Very well then; now as we have discussed previously this meeting would be about the treaty of the Golden Alliance. Before you is the treaty as written as we discussed. I have the main one in front of me," she gave them a moment to read it over before adding, "if there is a problem that you see then state it out; if not then we can all gather around and sign it, making it official."

"I still don't understand why weak planets have to be involved." Aries stated out loud looking at Endymion.

"Who are you calling weak? Earth did as much work as any of you guys. We can protect the Galaxy as much as anyone here." Endymion retorted.

Darien looked at Serena and saw her swallow, he tried to lighten the mood and looked over at Rei, "Well we know where your temper comes from." This got a smile from Serena, in fact from all the girls that seemed to sense the animosity in the room.

"Please Endymion how can you protect the Galaxy when you're having troubles to deal with on your own planet?" Aries asked rudely.

"Problems? I didn't hear about this. Endymion do you have something to tell us?" Diana asked looking at him.

The onlookers to the memory saw Endymion's expression fall as he looked at the Moon Queen, "He thought that this was his onetime chance to prove that Earth can be useful. The alliance was being formed because all the planets agreed that each had a resource that could be useful to each other." Serena started to explain the background information they were missing, "When the battle first broke out between an unknown source the Moon Kingdom nearly fell; Endymion felt sorry for her so he sent troops to try and protect the Moon…that is when this whole mess started up for him."

They nodded along as Endymion finally gathered his thoughts and spoke up, as Serena motioned to pay attention, "Yes there is, my planet has been divided since the beginning of this war. Street fights have been fought, protests against my rule, and even bloodshed has been made on my doorstep. I have been trying so hard to stop the mess and well I thought that if we could reunite under this new age of peace then this madness on my planet would end." He sat his face flushed with red.

"See? How can we let Earth into this if Endymion can't even control his own people?" Aries stated harshly, slamming his fist on the table.

"What is this guy's problem?!" Rini asked wanting to go over and yell at the man before remembering that they were just on lookers. She looked at her mother as if she would have the answer, "What would have been so bad to allow Earth into this?"

Serena didn't answer, knowing this was going to get worse, "Oh and you do any better by inflicting fear into your own?" Hermes asked sarcastically.

"Why all this bloodshed and violence? Can't we just get along with peace and love?" Aphrodite asked, "Violence can only lead to destruction of ones' planet."

Mina nodded along, for once agreeing with Aphrodite's words, "She is right in a sense." She stated as they had gave her a look.

"Well if that's true then Earth could destroy the Galaxy if we let it in. Why should we let a weak pathetic excuse of a planet into a high ranking society like ours?" Aries said, "Who's to say that he doesn't try and steal the Eternity Crystal just to try and take over the Galaxy to prove a point." He waved his hand and that is when they took notice of the crystal sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room.

Their mouths dropped, "Is that-?" Hotaru whispered out motioning to the ominous looking crystal.

Serena again did not answer their question, and Darien did not like the look on her face one bit as he heard a menacing snarl, "Take it back." They looked back to the table where Endymion was now standing and Aries stood up.

"And if I don't?" Aries taunted. He was about a foot taller than Endymion when they met nose to nose.

The onlookers all felt it before the people in the memory did, a surge of fiery hate. It was as if a dark shadow loomed over them, in a matter of moments, they were not the only one's feeling it, "Take it back now." Endymion growled out.

The other royals were frozen in their seats just watching. The only brave royal in the room was Diana who stood and tried to calm things down, "Gentlemen please stop this." Her words fell on death ears.

"Why is this happening?" Rei asked once more making Serena look at her.

Serena spoke now, voice low and sad, "Chaos's influence is happening."

They turned back around just as they saw the swarming of royals pulling Aries and Endymion apart, and then that is when a flash of golden light came from Endymion, blasting them all away. Un-shielding their eyes they see that he is now over by the Eternity Crystal, he reaches it out to touch it when he gets blasted away with a flash of pure silver light. Then there was more yelling and fighting causing the guards to come in and finally managed to apprehend Endymion who was still fighting to free himself, "Get off of me! Let me go!" Endymion yelled as Aries is also fighting his restrainers.

"ENOUGH!" Diana yelled as everything came to a stop and stared at her mouth; however she wasn't looking at anyone else except for Endymion, "Take him into the holding cell to await trial." Diana ordered firmly, however they could see the heartbroken look as she stared at the Earth King. Endymion's face fell at the sight of the once majestic conference room and the look on Diana's face.

The memory dimed and they stood in darkness, "Serena?" Mina whispered, "I sensed something…before in the arena and that in there…Serena what was that?"

Serena looked at them, "That was the start of our fates that set our lives in motion that has transcended for millenniums."

"Enough with the theatrics." Haruka demanded as she stepped towards the front, "Just tell us what happens."

There was a sudden swirl of mist around them, "Ask and you will receive." Serena stated sadly, "Two weeks passed since the incident. They had separated the Eternity Crystal and Galaxia had already went to the outskirts of the galaxy in hopes of keeping the Crystal of Discord safe is now what I realized."

As the memory started to settle, Serena continued to explain that the tribunal consisted of the new alliance that the Earth would've been a part of. Diana was voted leader of the alliance and she stood in front of the Judgment Hall. The treaty had already been signed, and now what was occurring in the memory was their first duty as a united front, "Bring the prisoner." Diana ordered.

The guards brought forth the King of the Earth. His face was still in that look he had when he left the conference room two weeks earlier. He was placed in the middle of the floor and major obscene words flew out at him. He looked up at the tribunal and saw the smug look on Aries, "I wish I could wipe that smirk off his face." Darien growled out, not liking how his grandfather was being treated.

"You are not the only one." Michiru spoke up coming to his side.

Rini nodded in agreement and looked at the ghostly outline at her mother, who actually looked more faded than before, "I am alright." Serena said softly as Rini had come over to her, noticing her silent question.

Before Rini had a chance to comment, a scribe stood up and announced, "The case of King Endymion the First of Earth versus the Golden Alliance shall begin. Proceeding over the case is Queen Diana of the Moon."

"King Endymion of Earth, under the charges of being a traitor how do you plea?" Diana asked as she stood up. Everyone felt the sorrow radiating off of her as she looked down at the man.

Endymion looked at her and said clearly, "Not guilty."

The courtroom atmosphere turned to ice as shouts of "traitor" and "heathen" arose, "ENOUGH!" Diana shouted which was a surprise because she hardly yelled, "I will not tolerate such barbaric acts in this courtroom. I will have decorum." An icy feeling arose from Endymion as he looked into the Queen's cerulean eyes flashed, "Now let the questioning begin."

Hermes's cleared his throat and stood, "Endymion do you admit that you attacked Aries, King of Mars?"

"Yes." Endymion stated, "I lost my temper and feeling threatened I used self-defensive, but-"

"So you just admitted to the assault charge then." Hermes concluded, which made Ami more upset, not understanding how such a conclusion could have been drawn.

Endymion quickly tried to correct the situation, "I did not assault him intentionally. I felt this surge of anger and just lost it."

"Neither here nor there, it was assault." Hermes explained, "No further questions."

Endymion shook his head, and now everyone felt sorry for him. This cross examination was not going well but matters just got worst as Aries stood, "By what reason did you have the right to assault me?"

"This is not a fair trial!" Endymion blurted out, "The very person that is accusing me is on this tribunal!"

Murmurs ran through the courtroom as Aries smirked down upon Endymion. He then turned to Diana and said, "The defendant has to answer otherwise he forfeits the trial and we have to pass judgment."

"What?!" Everyone yelled as they looked towards Serena, who just shook her head, "This is bull shit!" Darien yelled as most of his past memories were brought to his mind by watching this. He kept staring at Serena, silently begging to tell him that this is not the way it went down, however she refused to meet his gaze and just focused on the memory that was playing.

Endymion exclaimed looking to the eight other royals from the planets then to Diana. Pleading with her to come to his rescue. Diana stood, "Endymion please answer the question." She said calmly but half pleading.

He looked down to his chained hands and legs that were attached to the floor, "May the present examiner repeat the question?"

Aries smirked, "What reason did you have the right to assault me?"

"You provoked me." Came Endymion's response.

"I provoked you? In what ways? Tell the court the ways I provoked you." Ares demanded, "And while you are at it, care to explain what you hoped to gain by being a thief and stealing the Eternity Crystal?" The royals on the tribunal looked to the Mars King and then back toward Endymion.

Endymion again got this raging feeling surging through his veins and said, "You son of a b-"

"Enough!" Aphrodite stood, "This has to stop. Endymion the other charge was being a traitor to the alliance. You admitted that you did attack Aries, you tried to steal the most powerful relic that the alliance had; therefore you attacked the alliance. Do you deny it?"

"Yes I attacked Aries, and I do not even recall trying to steal the Crystal, but technically two weeks ago the alliance was not even created!" Endymion said, "So if anything I should be standing here explaining the assault charge!"

Aphrodite sighed and turned to Diana and nodded. Diana shook her head and motioned with her hands. A guard brought a piece of parchment out to Endymion, "Do you recognize this parchment?"

Endymion looked at it and said, "Yes this is the treaty."

Hades stood up now as he said, "Do you recognize the signature down at the bottom under the King of Mars?"

Without thinking Endymion looked and said, "Yes that's mine," after he said that he did a double take, "Wait what?"

Diana put a hand to her face and Endymion looked back and forth, "No wait I didn't-"

"Let the court be aware that Endymion the First of Earth has put a claim to the signature," Hades said and sat down.

Serena interceded now as they watched the continuation of the trial. She continued to explain that while there was no explanation of how Endymion managed to sign the official treaty, he had laid claim to the signature. He pleaded to have a test done, to see the authentication of it, and no matter who performed the test, it was real. He requested multiple times for the memory of that night to be played, continuing to claim that he had no recollection of trying to steal the Eternity Crystal, that he was somehow bewitched. This went on for about an hour then the time came to pass judgment.

"We have come to a conclusion. All hands for innocent of all charges?" Diana raised her hand but alas she was the only one. Endymion and her eyes met and pity was all he could detect in hers, "Guilty?" the nine other royals left raised their hands. Endymion's heart sank as he looked up at the people that had decided his fate.

"King Endymion the First of Earth I have no choice but to pass the judgment that has been voted on. Therefore I ban you and your kind from ever joining the Alliance. From here on out you and you kind are exiled for all time. If the blood of Earth ever touches the Moon, we will consider it an act of war and the consequences will be immediate death."

"NO!" He yelled trying to break free, "I was framed!"

"Guards remove this man from the courtroom and see him back to his planet." Diana ordered in dismay as she turned her head, unable to look at him.

The guards grabbed his arms and proceeded to drag him out of the court room, the memory was fading and the onlookers felt themselves being pulled out of the memory, "Diana please you can't do this! Please! DIANA!" Endymion kept calling until the doors closed and they were blasted out of the memory with Endymion's haunting voice echoing in the blackness that had descended upon them.

They found themselves back in the mediation room, "So that is what Aries meant when the girls should have killed me…" Darien stated after a moment or two, still shaken at having witnessed his grandfather's fate.

"So if that was the decision back then, then how did we get away with helping defend Earth a couple of times?" Mina asked slowly.

Serena was starting to feel weak, and she fought to remain in the plane, but now being back and so close to her body, her spirit was fighting to get back to its vessel, "It would be a long while before Diana would bring up the Earth King, but by that point she had married Adonis, my grandfather and former Commander of the Moon's Imperial Guard, and had a daughter…my mother. She wanted to try and resend the sentencing; however the rest of the royals thought that was a bad idea, believing that the Earth had become too corrupted." She felt herself shimmer in and out of the plane, the rest noticed it too.

"Serena what is happening to you?" Rei demanded to know.

"I have to go back, I've seemed to have overstayed my welcome here; but-"

"No, no more. We can finish this later." Darien said as he noticed the strain Serena was putting on herself.

Serena looked at them and managed to get out, "The protection didn't come in until our grandparents passed the crowns on to our parents, and they, for the most part mind you, changed the treaty's terms. Your parents still could really trust the Earth rulers, so they didn't offer them access the treaty, but something was put in place that gave rise to our newer positions." She then looked at Darien and gave him a phantom kiss, "I do not blame you. You tried to help protect me, both of you." She added looking him and Rini, she leaned down and gave her daughter a kiss as well, "You know where to find me for now." With that Serena's form vanished from them.

Darien just stared at the place Serena vanished from, with a hand to his lips. The kiss didn't feel warm or right. It was eerie and cold. 'Kiss of death' came to his mind, and looking down at Rini, he knew that she felt the same and could almost see the memory of that dark day in Crystal Tokyo, "Go ahead. Keep her company." He said looking at her.

The girls were still processing Serena's words to them, but was aware enough to focus in on the conversation, "Are you sure? There is still so much-" Rini was saying.

"Rini it is alright." Mina offered softly, taking the leadership reigns again, "Go be with your mother." Rini looked at them all and gave them a watery smile before turning and running down the hall, out of the meditation room.

Hotaru watched her friend leave, she made a move to go but held back, "You too," Michiru said softly, "go with her."

"But Mama Michiru-" Hotaru began.

"It's alright." Haruka stated, "Keep an eye on her."

Hotaru smiled now and took off after her friend, "So we have a lot of process…" Lita stated as she looked back towards the fire.

"I got it all down on my Mercury computer." Ami stated, but felt overwhelmed by the information still the same.

"Like that'll help. All of this is just so…" Rei couldn't find the words to describe how tangled this mess had become, so she let the sentence hang.

There was a moment of brief silence as they stood around. Haruka sighed and took a seat in the chair and stated, "Well let's see we cannot start at the beginning. Are we going to do this or what?" Not knowing what else to do, everyone took their seats and began going over the information from the beginning once more.

In a shaky breath, Rini was staring at the closed door in front of her. Despite it being a standard door, to her it felt large, ominous, haunting like. Steeling herself, she turned the bronze handle and pushed it open. She had never been into her mother's room in this building, having just been to the mediation area and kitchen, so she didn't really know what to expect.

It was smaller than she thought it would be. It was simple, not at all like Serena's room at room. There were barely any possessions in the room, the only personal touch that was in here were three picture frames on the dresser: one of Serena and the Scouts, one of just Serena and Darien, and then one of herself, Darien, and Serena at the park. Rini smiled when she quietly entered to look at that picture. It was the last one that was taken before she returned to the future permanently (or what was supposed to be permanently).

Now though was the part she was really scared of. Closing her eyes, she turned to where she knew the bed was going to be. Slowly opening them she half expected to see the Crystal Coffin that her mother had been surrounded in those few precious years ago; but of course there wasn't. Serena was lying on her back, covers drawn up to her chin. There was no real movement coming from her as Rini went over. Looking closely, she could faintly see her mother's chest rise and fall with each breath, the only sign that she was truly alright, "Rini?" Rini turned to see Hotaru standing in the doorway looking apprehensive.

"It's alright, you can come in." Rini offered, giving her friend a sad smile.

Hotaru came into the room and stood by Rini's side, as the other girl sat on her mother's bed holding Serena's hand, "How are you holding up?" Hotaru whispered.

Rini kept her eyes on Serena's peaceful looking face, "I do not know even how to answer the question." She responded lightly as she rubbed her fingers over Serena's knuckles, "Seeing her before us…looking like my mother-and yes I know she is my mother," Rini added stealing a glance at her friend before Hotaru could say something, "it just brought back memories. Memories that I would rather not have." She said looking back at Serena's peaceful face.

Hotaru stayed silent as she contemplated the words before pulling a chair from the dresser up and sitting in it, "I wish I was there," Rini looked at her, head tilted to the side, "so I knew where you are coming from better. I know what you told me, but…"

Rini nodded in understanding. It was another thing that was hard, she knew they were all in the future, but that was just the issue. It was their future selves, not their present selves. She could tell them everything, and yet until they actually experienced it firsthand, they could never truly understand, "I just hoped I wouldn't have to experience something like that again is all." Rini stated softly, having a funny feeling that Serena could hear her.

"Well at least this was different than that." Hotaru said, "She will wake up once she is recovered, not like from what you told me."

Rini stayed silent, but her thoughts were anything but. She found that Hotaru was slightly wrong in that assumption. Sure she didn't steal the crystal now, and there was no Black Moon Clan attacking, but this was sort of like the last time where the future was in more peril now than it was then. This time, if Serena lost this fight…there is no future, and to make matters more difficult, something that she didn't tell anyone (although she was under an assumption that Serena knows this too), she knew her mother became Queen under different circumstances, "I hope she wakes up soon. We still have a lot of things to talk about." Rini stated instead, seeing that Hotaru was waiting for a response; _and a future to fix_ , Rini thought to herself as she gripped Serena's hand tighter; silently vowing to do whatever she could to ensure that: one- Serena never had that look of dreaded defeat ever again on her face, two- she will do _**anything**_ to help her mother with whatever damn training those royals will put her through (rules be damned), and three- there will be a home to go back to once all this was said and done. _I won't let you down_ , she thought leaning down and kissed her mother's cheek.

She then got up, "Come on, let's go join the others." Rini stated taking a deep breath.

"You sure?" Hotaru asked putting the chair away anyway, "I think they will understand if you stayed here. I can go and-"

"I am sure." Rini said, "Mom would want me to do my job, not be here and mope any longer. I am a Sailor Guardian, and I need to know what is going on so that I can help her."

Hotaru nodded and followed Rini out the door, but not before looking at her Princess and future Queen, giving her own vow to watch over Rini and the others as well; however before she closed the door, she swore she saw her Princess's very faint astral outline next to the bed nodding to her and giving her a small smile of thanks before once again vanishing, "Rest well your highness." She muttered closing the door fully behind her.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Crystal Wars**

" _ **Do your demons, do they ever let you go? When you've tried, do they hide, deep inside? Is it someone that you know? You're just a picture, you're an image caught in time. We're a lie, you and I; we're words without a rhyme. There's no sign of the morning coming, you've been left on your own: Like a rainbow in the dark. Just a rainbow in the dark"**_

 _ **-**_ _DIO Rainbow in the Dark_

Hate. So much hate. He breathed in and out nice and slow. He could sense the shear strength of this massive amount of hate from his realm and he knew there was only one person that had this much hate tied up inside, "Serenity." He muttered as he took another deep breath in and slowly released it.

Chaos was unsuccessful in his attack after having been forced back to D-Point in the Artic, former hideout of one of his carnations Queen Metaria, by Serenity's powers. Oh he tried to attack once he no longer felt her presence, however she had placed multiple barriers up keeping him back far longer than he wanted. Now though…perhaps it was time to test the shields a bit.

Getting up from his seat, he strolled down the semi-destroyed hallway towards a door that led down to the dungeons. Opening it, he smirked maliciously at the sight before him. There was nothing but darkness, but to the trained eye such as his there was a lethal movements in this particular darkness. Using his human body, he slowly descended to the stairs into the dungeon, getting ready for his next move.

- **Snoopykid-**

"How are you doing?" Artemis asked softly as he looked at Luna expectantly.

Luna was in deep thought and had been since Serena had appeared to them just a day or two before. She hadn't been overly silent, but at the same time she hadn't been forthcoming either. Serena had been in contact with them since she had let them know what her plan was in helping protect the Earth when she took the rest of the scouts and Darien to the Moon, "Fine." She responded staring at the screen that had broken into different video segments across the city.

He nodded and looked towards his own screen which showed D-point in the North Pole where Queen Beryl's hideout for the Dark Kingdom had once resided, "You just seem tense is all."

Luna growled softly, "I am fine Artemis." Truthfully that was a lie. She was still mad at the overall situation. She was more actually more than mad, if she allowed herself to think about it. She was downright furious. Livid. Sad. Hurt. She bit her lip, focusing on the screen, trying to block out Artemis's glances.

In the months that Serena had been gone, not one moment had gone by that she hadn't thought about the former bubbly blonde. In fact as she had stayed with Darien and Rini (having been forced to after finding out that Serena had erased her family's memories of herself, and by extension her, Darien and Rini), she couldn't help but see Serena in the pink haired child. Truthfully that hurt just as much. Rini may have been at first in denial that Serena could actually have been her mother, once upon a time, but there were certain mannerisms that clearly yelled 'Total Serena!' that Luna had to catch herself before calling Rini 'Serena'.

Still sensing Artemis's glances, she sighed, "I don't know. I am…I can't even…" She felt his paw on her own and felt him nudge her, hearing his soft encouraging purr, "I know I said I forgave her, but-"

"You are still upset with her. I know." He stated as he too thought about the day the Moon Princess had returned to them:

 _ **Flashback to the night of the ambush**_

They had just gotten out of the meeting they had planned to ambush the supposed 'Agent of Chaos'. While the Inner Scouts, plus Rini and Darien, would stake out the museum, the Outers were given a small break. In the meantime, he and Luna would be in Mission Control looking for Serena, "How are we going to find someone that doesn't want to be found?" Luna asked as she watched him tap away at the keypad from her chair.

Artemis tapped at the keypad as fast as he could, fully aware she was watching him closely. For his part looking somewhat hesitant, "Well you know how we managed to figure out that Chaos was back?" He asked as he paused briefly to look at her.

"Yes. I was there…" Luna stated.

"Well after we figured out that Serena had a part of the Eternity Crystal, I figured why couldn't we expand the program and use the same concept but search for Serena's energy? So I asked Ami for a copy of her program so I could follow my own lead on this." He went back to typing and frowning, "I didn't want to tell you this idea until I tested it first, but what better time than the present."

Luna sat there in silence as she looked at him stunned. He stopped his tapping to look at her, "Artemis, that is-"

"It's probably stupid and won't work." Artemis stated cutting her off, fur turning slightly red, "I know." Then he felt her swat him hard on the back of the head, "OW!"

"You idiot cat!" She yelled, "I wasn't going to say that!" He looked at her and she turned her head facing away from him, "I was going to say that it was brilliant; how come you did not want to tell me or us rather?"

He swallowed and then looked away from, "I didn't want to get your hopes up in case it failed. It is a long shot after all and there has not been any Sailor Moon sightings since Serena left. I mean-"

Luna sighed and turned back towards him. She placed a paw on his and nuzzled him, "It's alright I understand." Giving him a brief moment, she pulled away, "Well are you going to tell me how this works?"

He smiled at her and then resumed his tapping, "Well same concept as before. Look for similar energy and aura readings, this time geared towards Serena. We know she still has the crystal, so hopefully I'll still pick up something without her having to be Sailor Moon or Princess Serenity."

Luna just continued to watch, letting Artemis do his thing. Try as she might, she found herself growing hopeful. They had been trying to find ways to track Serena for some time, but no success. Even Darien couldn't get a read on her, and then when Rini tried, that too amounted to nothing. She frowned suddenly though, Darien had seemed pale this evening when they met up at the shrine. They tried to talk to him about it, but he was adamant that nothing was amiss. She just made a mental note to quiz him later, when she heard Artemis's voice bringing her out of her musing, "That is strange."

"What happened?" Luna asked leaning forward to take a look at what had popped up.

He was frowning as he looked at the monitors, "It says that an energy reading matching Serena's is here in this room…" He said slowly as he tapped some more, this time the screen shifting to the cameras in Mission Control and the Crown Arcade, "However it is also different, like it is saying that it is indeed Serena's but there is something else…something almost supernatural about it."

"How is that possible? I mean could Serena's energy still be in the Arcade or something?" Luna asked as she helped him analyze the footage, looking for anything suspicious, "Like a residue?"

Artemis shook his head, "I do not see how that is possible. If anything it should be faint with the amount of time that has gone by." He re-entered the parameters and re-ran his program, "Huh it is coming up with the same result; that Serena is here." He sat back and looked Luna's slightly crestfallen face, "I am sorry Luna."

"It is alright. You tried to warn me that it was a long shot."

"Or perhaps it is a testament that it worked." The cats jumped at the voice as a figure materialized out of the shadows.

The figure was in a black cloak with the hood up. The eyes were the only thing visible, and they were a pierce glowing silver, "Just who are you?" Luna demanded to know hackles raised and claws out trying to push her way passed Artemis, as he was trying to protect her.

"Luna…" The person in the cloak ripped the hood off, "It's me. Serena; I mean I just said that Artemis's program worked, who else would have my energy reading?"

Luna and Artemis both relaxed their body positions, but took a careful leap over to her. Serena stayed where she was, not moving as Luna and Artemis both took her in. In this time, being a cat has it perks because once they were over being cautious, they could tell that this was indeed their lost Princess, "Serena it is you." Luna gasped as Serena nodded, getting down on her knees carefully, "Artemis call the girls! Call Darien!" Luna immediately yelled to him.

"Wait no!" Serena yelled and he stopped just as he was about to push the alert button.

"Why?" He asked looking at her, "Do you know how much you've worried everyone?"

Serena nodded, "I apologize for that. I really do, but I am not here to stay long. I've come back to do one thing and that is to steal the Heart of Eternity."

Luna and Artemis looked at her stunned, "I am sorry what?" Luna whispered out looking at her former charge.

Serena had given them a sad look and said, "I am the diamond thief, and please let me explain. If at the end of my explanation you would like me to release you from your pledges, I will do so."

 _ **End Flashback**_

They had been too shocked that all they could do when she said those words was nod numbly. She had explained everything to them in a quick manner, but enough that they understood what she was telling them. She hadn't run away because she was done with being Sailor Moon and the Princess, she had left to protect them.

When she asked at the end if she wanted them to be set free, that is when Luna had pounced on her. Giving her raging claw marks and yelling at how stupid she was. Surprisingly, or maybe not in Artemis's opinion, Serena had not fought back. He stole another glance at Luna, who was still in deep thought. The last they heard from Serena was the night she had taken the girls and Darien to the moon. It was then that she had worked with them to keep Chaos isolated to the North Pole and to fill them in on the happenings, "I am worried to." He offered up.

Luna sighed once more and looked back at the screen, "I…we just got her back…Artemis I do not know what I would do if-"

"There is not going to be an 'if'." Artemis stated firmly, "At least not if the girls and Darien have anything to say about it. We have to trust them to figure this out."

"Did you see her though? Artemis she looked like she aged at least ten years." Luna argued back firmly, "The Silver Crystal already drains her life force, what do you think will happen when she brings about the Eternity Crystal?"

He had nothing to offer up, and kept quiet. She had a point, which was something he had not considered. Serena had given them access to everything they didn't have before and thanks to the synching of the Mercury computer, they had access to more information that Serena had not managed to tell them before. Everything was troubling about this situation, "We just have to take one thing at a time." He eventually said as he looked back towards the screen.

It was a quiet night, which was rare. So far Chaos had not made a move towards the barriers. There were times when he has tried, but tonight there was nothing. Luna focused on her screen as well and was seeing the same readings, and that was just a simple quiet night with a full moon in its protective glow. Her eyes glistened a bit as she focuses in on it, "I will always be with you." She muttered firmly as if making a vow. Artemis remained quiet, not sure if he was supposed to hear that or not; but inside his own mind, he too made the same vow and added _stay safe_.

 **-Snoopykid-**

If anyone were to walk into her room now, they would be content to see that Serena was resting peacefully. There was no frowning, her eyebrows weren't pinched together, and her chest rising and falling in a slow rhythmic pattern would ease any fear in their minds that she was suffering…looks could be deceiving. Her spirit had returned to her body after Hotaru had left the room, but her slumber was no longer one of blissful oblivion. It was as if a switch had been flicked on and a nightmare began; but in this nightmare, it felt real…way too real.

She found herself shrouded in a deathly smoke of ruin of what appeared to be her modern day Tokyo mixed with her future Crystal Tokyo. Bodies of her future subjects, the innocents that her and her Sailor Guardians swore to protect, lay at her feet. As she walked, she noticed that the streets ran red with blood.

Fate, it seemed, had given her a sense of cruel isolation as she found herself near Tokyo Tower; the place where everything had finally come together. She looks around with a sickness sense of dread and sees that her family and friends were chained to crystal pillars next to the tower, skins pale with death. She couldn't understand; she had not committed any crimes against the gods or men. She had fought for peace, love, and justice. She had been Princess Serenity, Sailor Moon, and now future Neo-Queen Serenity. Why had this happened? How could this have happened?

There was a small buzzing all around her as she walked away from her friends and family. The buzzing started to form words, haunting in tone as building started to crumble around her, " _I committed saith to speak the truth and each hideous vision born from my mind has come to pass_." Serena stopped suddenly and looked around once more, trying to find the source of the voice. She turned to look behind her and saw that the tower and the pillars that held her family and friends had vanished.

She swallowed, now realizing that the voice was that of the Sancy Diamond, and it was giving her what seemed to be a premonition of what was to come, " _You saw it all coming_. _The wars, the murder, the madness_. _You knew you were cursed_. _Behold the dreaded fate of the past_ ;" it was something out of the Twilight Zone, a portal opened in front of her and she saw the image that was forever plastered in her memory, the fall of the Silver Millennium, " _the destruction of the present_ ;" the ground spun beneath her as if showing her a panoramic view of the area, " _now the desolate future_." Another vortex opened and she saw the ruins of Crystal Tokyo.

How?! Serena wanted to scream, but she couldn't. It was as if the pressure had increased around her as a dark mass suddenly fell from the already reddish/black sky. She turned to shield her eyes from the blast that it created and the debris that it sent flying around her. Giving herself a moment, she turns around and her jaw drops at the magnitude of the destruction around her.

The sky was like soup, boiling and stirring. In some places, it was burned. There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness. Black tar like creatures trolled through the red streets, message was received loud and clear; it appeared as if she was too late this time, " _The Moon_ , _the Earth_ , _the Universe has fallen not by my hand or wish but as I foresaw._ " Serena shivered as she watched the black creatures walk the streets, devouring the souls from the bodies on the streets, and she couldn't do a damn thing to stop it.

" _So now fate's vengeful eye is fixed on you_ , _Serenity_." It was in that moment another explosion happened.

Serena was thrown backwards from the impact. Groaning, she sits up, everything in her body hurting. The pain was quickly forgotten about as she now saw the lifeless bodies of her friends and family coming toward her, behind them was a massive shadow like monster, laughing manically, "Rei, Lita, Ami, Mina?" Serena finally spoke, her voice quivering as she stared into their lifeless eyes.

" _Tell us Serenity where has the sweetness of life gone_?" Their voices were as dead as they physically appeared.

Serena backed away from her Inner Guardians as they moved closer to her, only to run into the Outer Guardians behind her, "Hotaru, Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna?" She questioned looking into their eyes almost pleading for them to help her.

However they were no better off than the Inner Scouts, as they said, " _What stays fate's hand from striking now_?" They chanted as they started to surround her.

Serena scrambled to her feet and managed to push passed them. Running into the uprooted streets, all around her lightning and thunder rolled through the sky. Looking back, she sees the black tar monsters and the scouts chasing after her. She pushed herself faster, " _What stays fate's hand from striking now_?!" Serena shook her head, trying desperately to block the voices. In fact, she was so focused on dodging, that she wasn't paying attention to the corner she was turning that she ran into what she thought was a wall.

Falling flat on her back, she shook herself to see it was not a wall, but two people…or in this case bodies. Focusing once more, she sees that they are not just bodies, but Darien and Rini. They turned their cold dead eyes on her, voices equally lifeless, " _Tell us Serenity where has the sweetness of life gone_?" They said together.

"No, this is not happening." Serena stated firmly, getting up and backing away from them, only to be surrounded from behind.

Everyone started in around her, " _You knew you were cursed_." Serena looked at Rini as she spoke to her, " _The once proud and light of the Universe_." She motioned to the area.

There was a maniacal laughter and Serena looked up at the now black mass in the sky that took the shape of a contorted, monstrous face, distorted voice booming like thunder, " _Gaze upon the ruin that drove your people to their deaths. Their blood is on your hands. I told you…you couldn't protect them_." Before Serena could move, she felt Lita and Haruka's hands on her, forcibly pulling her up to her feet.

Everyone started in again with the haunting words, Serena tried to drown them out, "Come on. Wake up. Please, wake up." Chaos was laughing and the girls and Darien wouldn't let her go, "Please what did I do? What could I change? Please tell me!"

Everything went quiet and her surroundings disappeared. Serena swallowed, now free from her forcible constraints. She fell to her knees and started to cry, "What can I do?" She begged softly.

" _Serenity_." Serena looked up and saw Darien, not her Darien yet he also wasn't that terrifying nightmare one either, " _Come now._ " He opened his arms wide.

Her clothes suddenly changed when she touched his arms, she wasn't Princess Serenity, but a Queen, "Endymion." She relaxed into his strong arms, she looked at him closely, and then it really did click for her, "Wait, you really are Endymion…not Darien."

" _No I am not your Darien_ ," his voice was echoed, " _as you know, the others have yet to bond with their past like you have_. _He still views us as separate entities in some cases._ _So I projected myself to you when we sensed you were in distress_." Serena nodded and pulled away from him completely, not missing the look of hurt that crossed his features, " _I am still him_ , _and he is still me_. _Please love, tell me what has happened that caused you to be in so much pain_."

His voice was echoing around her, soothing her immensely. So she told him of the premonition that she had received and spilled everything she was feeling. Endymion had wanted to go over to her, and hold her close; but he didn't allow himself to do that, knowing that would upset her even more. When she was done, she looked at him and said, "I have a feeling that I really did cause that. I somehow failed and destroyed the world, and us in the process." She finished with arms crossed, still not looking at him.

" _Oh love, please do not think like that_." He walked over to her and made her turn around to face him, " _Nothing is going to happen_. _The future, the present, everything will be alright_."

"And what if it isn't? What if I fail? What if-"

" _There are no 'what ifs'. There is only the here and now; Serenity love please, you will not fail, because you have us_." Endymion was looking into her silver specked eyes that shone with fear and hesitance. He smiled gently as he cupped her cheek and was relieved that she leaned into his touch just like she had done in the past, " _You just have to let us help you._ "

Serena looked at him and once again fell into his arms, "I don't want to see you all get hurt or worse…even Rini."

" _Small Lady is tough_ , _much like her mother._ " Serena gave him a small smile, " _Love please, have a little more faith in us;_ _ **ALL**_ _of us._ " He saw her smile fall again.

He knew she was still in a midst of despair, and she still looked hesitant. He knew that she did have faith in them, each and everyone one of them, it was still her own self that she was doubting and losing hope in. So once more, he sighed and made her face him, " _Serenity please hear me now, just as no matter how hard you try to keep it away, despair will attack you again and again_."

"This is supposed to be reassuring?" Serena demanded to know as she fought out of his grip and gave him an incredulous look, "Honestly you might want to get a few pointers from Cape Boy Endymion."

He smirked, " _Where do you think Cape Boy got his quips from_? _Now please allow me to continue_ ;" Seeing she was listening, albeit skeptical at what he was saying, he continued, " _My point is that hope will return to you_. _And again, and again it will surely bloom_. _Do you understand_? _Sure despair will attack_ , _but in its wake hope will continue to fight it and keep coming back_. _You have to have hope_ ;" Then he felt a pull, in his core, " _I have to go. Darien is pulling me back. Something has happened._ "

"What? What is it?" Serena asked now worried as she looked into his deep blue eyes.

" _Not sure_ , _they were talking about the memories that they saw._ " He again felt the strong pull, " _One more thing, he is going to ask you about the bright light and how he could have caused it_ ; _he just hasn't had time to fully process what had happened aside from…well causing you undo pain_."

Serena shook her head, "It wasn't his fault…or yours for that matter." She added looking at him.

" _I got to go love, please remember what I said_." He gave her a brief kiss then vanished, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

 **-Snoopykid-**

For the last five minutes, it felt as if he had a hole the size of the Mariana Trench had formed in the deep recesses of his mind and his soul. It had occurred nearly fifteen to twenty minutes ago, he had felt something that he had not felt since Serena had left Tokyo: a sense that Serena was in danger. He had been about to jump up, transformed in his Tuxedo Mask persona and go to where the tug was coming from when something had stopped his protective instincts from doing just that, " _I will go to her, you stay_." An eerie voice had stated from his mind, and that was when he felt a huge tug, and the hole had formed.

Just what the hell was that? He wondered and looked around the table to see that none of the girls had any reaction he had. Half listening to Mina's input about how the Alliance handled the situation, his mind drifted as he had felt the sensation of his 'Serena Sense' diminish to briefly wondering if the girls had ever felt what he had when Serena was in trouble. He mentally shook his head, they couldn't have felt anything because if they did then they would have all ran to Serena's room.

However the nagging concern would not leave him, and he couldn't just get up without the others wondering what was wrong. Just as he was about to make a decision, there was a flash of light, and everyone sprang into action, "Just what the hell do you want?" Rei snarled looking at Diana and Aries.

Aries held up his hands, "We've come to speak to Serenity."

"Not happening." Lita growled out, "She is resting right now, recovering from that bull shit battle you put her through!"

Diana stepped forward, "We need to talk to her. Please it is important."

Darien felt as if a meteorite had slammed back into the Mariana Trench that was in his mind and soul at that very moment and suddenly he felt normal, but he noticed that his voice was much stronger and deadlier as he stood ramrod straight to glare at the ancient royals, "Over my dead body." The girls turned to look at him stunned, never hearing Darien sound so menacing without being brainwashed, "Leave. Her. Alone."

"We cannot do that Endymion. We have to speak to her." Aries said, and plowed forward when he sensed that he was going to get chewed out, "I am not going to apologize. I admit that I was wrong and I didn't do what we agreed," he motioned to himself and Diana, "the plan was for her to do a final sudden death fight between her, Hermes, and Athena. However I had a better idea and decided to do what needed to be done. There is no worse enemy than yourself, in that case I needed to see Serenity try and control herself."

Seeing that their stance relax slightly, he swallowed and continued, "We had a meeting and we need to talk to her, so please, someone get Serenity for us."

"No need." They jumped when they saw Serena limping into the room, leaning heavily on a staff. Darien and Rini both ran over to her, "I am alright." She tried to argue as they helped her, Darien taking part of her weight off the staff.

"No you aren't, why are you not in bed?" He demanded as they helped her to sit in a chair.

Ami immediately began scanning and winced at the results, the rest looked at her, "He is right, your energy levels are really low. Lower than I ever seen them."

Rei looked over her shoulder and saw the comparison. It shocked her that her friend (who had seemed to run on a limitless supply of energy), was at an almost dangerously low level. She looked at Serena now and saw just how pale and tired she looked, "Sere, why don't you go back to bed? I am sure we can handle them." She had given Serena a rare but soft look, before turning to glare harshly at the royals.

This didn't get passed the young woman though, "Easy Rei, even if I wanted to go back to sleep, I wouldn't be able to." She shivered as she recalled the nightmare/premonition and it was hard to look into the caring eyes of her friends without seeing their 'zombie/undead' counterparts.

"Serena-" Mina started to say, not liking the look that crossed her friend's face.

"Guys please." Serena begged, "Let's just hear what they have to say." Seeing the argument was put to rest for the moment, she looked towards the uninvited guests, "Ok, what do you want?"

They looked at the girls and Darien, signal reading loud and clear, "Oh no, whatever you got to say, can be said to us as well." Haruka nearly snarled at them.

"Just try to remove us." Michiru stated firmly, "I grantee that you will lose."

Rini stood close to her mother, and Hotaru stood on the other side. Darien stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. Somehow when Rei had mentioned that Serena go back to bed, an image flashed into his mind and Serena's words came to him as clear as if he were there with her in this unknown subspace, " _I had a nightmare…or better yet a premonition…I failed_."

This caused him to grip her shoulders even tighter, "Ow Darien." Serena said as she flinched under his grip. She shook his hands off of her and shakenly stood up, "Guys please, enough of this." Under her intense glare they looked at her, almost shrinking in the process.

"Serena, we are just trying-" Lita started to defend their actions.

"I know what you are trying to do, but picking a fight that is not technically yours is not called for." Before anyone of them could counter argue, she stopped them, "No, now listen everyone just have a seat." When they made no move to do so, she stated firmly, "Now." Swallowing everyone took their seats once more, only Darien remained standing. She turned to look at him, glare softening, "Love please, that includes you."

He stared at her, eyes clouded with love and sadness. He was reluctant to do as she requested (ordered actually), but something in him, told him to do as she said, "Are you-"

"Darien, I love you; but please let me handle this." Serena said softly. He nodded, and sat to her right. She looked around the table, "I know you all are looking out for me, I appreciate it I really do. However if we keep fighting each other like you all are doing, then we will fail…I will fail." Then straining closely to hear her next words, Serena added, "You do not want to know what I saw if Chaos is not defeated." She then coughed and looked at Aries and Diana, "They are not leaving this conversation. What you say to me, you can say to us all."

The two looked at each other and then met Serena's gaze, "We had a meeting after your battle with your inner fear." Diana spoke softly gazing into her granddaughter's penetrating eyes that seemed to glow with profound wisdom and sudden strength, "Due to your lover and daughter's interference, you neglected to complete the challenge bestow upon you."

At her words, Darien's mind flashed to that moment and a question that he hadn't thought about came to mind, just how the hell had he done that anyway? Then he felt an internal snicker at his own thought. Serena met his eye in that moment and recognition flashed in her eyes, before refocusing on Diana, "Wait what?" Rini demanded to know suddenly as everyone else (but Serena) sat in shock at her words. Rini had gotten up and swallowed hard. For a brief moment, she recalled the assurance that her grandmother had given her. That there was still hope in Serena taking the throne, of Crystal Tokyo's birth, hell even her own birth…but now it was just blatantly stated that she really had cost her mother the throne.

"I am sorry but those were the rules. It was bad enough that Endymion had interfered with the fight, but you ended it when you used your powers to awaken Serenity." Aries said in a tone of rare softness.

Rini shook her head, "This wasn't supposed to happen." Unable to keep to keep her composure together any longer, she started hyperventilating, "I cost her the throne. This isn't supposed to be happening. None of this is supposed to be happening!"

Serena moved quickly to her daughter's side and tried to reach out to her, but Rini pulled away, "Honey no that's not-" Serena pleaded.

"It's true! Once again I am a screw up and this is my fault." She looked at Aries and Diana, "Please let her move on. Punish me if you must, but she has to ascend the throne."

"That's not how this works." Diana stated as Serena managed to bring Rini back over to the table, "The challenge was set forth by the ancient rules."

"There are no such rules in the future! My mom became queen after the Earth froze over and she awoke to save it! She ascended to the throne of the Moon and once Daddy awoke and accepted his birth right for Earth, he became King. Together they finished awakening everyone, married each other, and together they rule the Earth and Moon!" Rini pleaded knowing that she was breaking the rules of time travel, but at the same time no longer caring, "None of this ever happened! You know this, I know you do!" She added looking at Serena.

Serena shifted under her gaze as they all looked at her in question, "Things change honey. The future is not always set in stone; however Pluto has yet to tell me that Crystal Tokyo or any other future event has changed. There is still a chance that it will come to fruition, just not in the way you were told."

Everyone listened to her words and the tone she used. What was important for them was that Serena neither confirmed nor denied Rini's accusation as she continued with, "For now though, we have to play by the rules and that is I neglected to complete the challenge. Furthermore, I forbid you to blame yourself for trying to save your father and myself." She stated firmly seeing that Rini was going to protest more, "Understood?"

Rini sighed and relented for now, "So then what is going to happen?" Ami asked seeing that Darien and Serena's focus was still on Rini's devastating outburst, "This was supposed to allow her to ascend the throne to defeat Chaos."

Aries took a step forward and answered, "She will train more. She has to focus and not allow anger to rule her mind and heart." Then looking at Serena he said, "Your fight with Chaos was brilliant, your hand to hand combat skills near flawless, using your powers was also outstanding; however your emotions specifically your anger and rage took over. Do you understand what I…we are telling you?"

Serena straightened at this and looked at her daughter, Darien, and the girls before resting on Aries and Diana, "Yes I understand."

There was a moment of real understanding that passed between everyone, "Then this is the new plan." Aries stated, and for once as he spoke, no one interrupted him and no one really shot him deaths glares as he laid out the next move.

- **Snoopykid-**

The two cats sat in silence staring at a singular screen. The scene that had their hackles raised slightly was one of blinding white snow, almost whiting out the area where they knew a fortress stood, "I don't like this." Luna muttered what seems like the hundredth time since they started having severe misgivings on the quiet appearance of their enemy's isolation area.

"I know." Artemis agreed, matching her tone, while also looking at the Venus's symbol on the keypad, "Should I call Mina at least?"

This had been discussed since they first grew suspicious almost an hour ago. Artemis had wanted to contact the girls right away, but Luna had said no, and that they should wait to see if this feeling passes; after all Serena had ensured them that she had placed up the barriers and that they will hold; but now as the minutes dragged by the feeling only worsened, "See if you can get a hold of just Mina. If not then go down the line, to anyone else; save Serena for last."

He looked at her sharply, "Why do you want to keep Serena out of the loop? In fact should I just call her, they are her barriers after all." He stated re-thinking his plan.

"I have a feeling that those barriers and Serena is the problem at the moment." Luna responded slowly, eyes darting across the screen, as if waiting for something to pop up and scare them at any moment, "I do not know why I didn't think of this before, but she probably wasn't just tired from staying up all night with us. Remember? She said she helped us keep guard and it wasn't until we forcibly sent her away to get rest…these barriers…" she started to tap on the keypads and pulled up an example of one such area that Serena had placed a barrier, "Can you scan that like you did when you were searching for her?"

"I suppose I can, give me a minute." Artemis did not like what Luna was implying, but pulled out his program anyway. He scanned the barrier and then ran it against Serena's aura and sure enough, "It matches." He stated in awe, "Wait if this matches with the Silver Crystal and Serena then that means…"

"These barriers are connected with her life force." Luna finished as she sat back, "That girl…I swear she doesn't think sometimes! Does she realize that this is a major problem, not just for her but for everyone as well? Why does she have to go to such lengths to put herself in danger?"

Artemis couldn't answer that, nor did he think he was expected to. He returned to the pervious security screen and then tapped Mina's sign and waited for her to pick up. After a moment or two they saw her face, " _Artemis_? _This really isn't a good time_." Her voice was strained and based on her posture, it seemed like things were tense.

"I am sorry, I know you all are busy reconnecting, but something is happening that we do not like." Artemis stated as he sat back and looked at her. Then catching two unfamiliar people in the background he asks, "What is happening anyway?"

" _Diana and Aries are discussing Serena's succession to the throne and about controlling this damn crystal thing_." Mina stated rolling her eyes, " _We don't really care for one another at the moment_ , _now what is happening_?"

"Is Serena in hearing distance?" Luna asked.

They saw Mina turn her head and then look back at the screen, " _She is but I think she is busy digesting the implications at the moment, and trying to keep Rini from beating herself up. Long story, don't ask_." It was then that slowly, more of the girls came into view of the screen to listen in on the conversation.

Keeping the situation brief, Artemis and Luna started to describe the ominous feelings that they were getting from D-Point, then of course Luna added in the barriers that Serena had created. All of them had looks of exasperation on their face, and looked like they were about to blow up at Serena right then and there, but Luna assured them that was not the best approach at the moment. Once they were done, Mina had started to fill them in on the proceedings that were going on at their end, leaving Artemis to ask, "So when do you think you all will be able to come back?"

" _Not too sure, this is something we are going to have to discuss with Serena right now_." Mina answered, once again looking over at the small family as Serena and Darien were talking with Rini, and Diana had gone over as well, leaving Aries looking on rather solemnly.

Artemis and Luna looked at each other for a moment before returning to the screen, "Well talk to her. I need at least some of you to come back soon. Something is not sitting right here." Luna said reluctantly before disconnecting the line.

"I thought we didn't want Serena to worry about what was going on here." Artemis commented as Luna put the security screens back up.

"I didn't originally, but if Serena is the only one that can get them to and from the Moon without the whole 'Sailor Planet Power' move, then they are going to need her anyway." Luna explained as she sighed, "So it's a double edge sword."

"What do you make of the situation?" Artemis asked sensing that Luna wanted a topic change altogether.

Luna huffed and let loose a sarcastic laugh, "Which one?" Before he could answer, she plowed onward, "This thing as a whole or that thing with Diana and Aries?"

"I guess the Diana and Aries thing…?" Artemis questioned now unsure of what he was asking.

Luna shook her head, because honestly she didn't know what to think any more. None of this was making any sense and to her knowledge, she didn't even think she knew about any of this before on the moon when Selenity was queen. She just assumed that when Serena was of age, she would automatically take the throne. Then again too, none of this was mentioned in their little trip to Crystal Tokyo, but she decided to add that to her ever growing list of 'Things that she needed to talk to Serena about'. She was about to answer Artemis, to that effect when something on the screen caught her eye, "What is that?" She asked motioning to the screen that showed D-Point.

He zoomed in on where she motioned and saw mass shadows looming over the ice palace before it imploded in a black mass, "Oh boy." Artemis responded as he began to rapidly tap at the keypad as quickly as his paws allowed him to, "Quick check your area."

Luna did as she was told and suddenly all the barriers that they had up started to flicker in and out of existence, "Oh no…no, no, no." She muttered, "We are losing the barriers."

Artemis looked at her, and before he could say anything, there was a huge amount of shaking and suddenly a flash of light appeared. They turned and saw Sailor Pluto standing before them with a portal behind her, "Quickly, you must come with me." She said urgently.

"We cannot just leave." Luna argued as one by one the screens that showed the city starting to go black.

"You must, there is nothing more you can do here. Come on, quickly, I cannot hold this open much longer." Pluto stated.

There was a huge explosion that could be heard, and Artemis nudged her, "Go! She is right, there is nothing more that we can do."

She looked at him and at the screen. There was another explosion and this time they were thrown from the control panel and onto the floor. Shaking themselves, they ran towards Sailor Pluto as parts of the ceiling started to cave in on them. The three of leapt into the swirling vortex just as there was a final explosion and Mission Control was destroyed.

Somewhere, watching the destruction and chaos, a grotesque blond haired man laughed maniacally, "Come out, come out wherever you are Serenity." He taunted as he watched his minions prowl the streets, searching for their prey, "Come out and play."

Meanwhile on the Moon, while she was still trying to comfort her daughter, a hand flew to her heart and she took a knee to the ground, "Serena!" Darien exclaimed as he and Rini were instantly by her side, while the girls (who were silently discussing on what to do) turned and looked. The two ancient royals also went over to her and gave her looks of concern as Darien kept trying to steady her, "Serena what is it? What's wrong?" He begged to know.

Serena was panting and gasping as she felt as if multiple swords were stabbing through her heart. There was so much pain that she could feel that it was getting harder and harder to breathe. She managed to look up briefly as she caught Diana and Aries's eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came was a gasp of unbearable pain, "Serena please, what is it? How can I help?" Darien begged, something like this felt familiar to him and instantly a small voice (sounding eerily like his own) told him that this was linked to one of the diamonds, "Is it the Heart?" He asked.

She managed a small nod, and then gasped in pain once more. She again tried to look at Diana and Aries's and managed out the four words they didn't want to hear, "We're. Out. Of. Time." Before her hands flew to her head as she saw the destruction that was being unleashed on her beloved planet and felt the mass amounts of pain that went with it.


	10. Chapter 10

So once more VTI life (Vet Tech Institute) has foiled any attempt for me to actively update. However I have found some time to do just that. This chapter was inspired by a song from Tangled: The Series 'Ready as I'll Ever Be'. I do not own that song, Sailor Moon, or anything really aside from my student loan debt (so good luck suing me).

 **The Crystal Wars**

 _Now it's time to rise up_

 _Or it's time to stand down_

 _And the answer is easy to see_

 _And I swear by the sword_

 _If you're in, get on board_

 _Are you ready?_

 _ **-Cassandra's verse from Disney's Tangled: The Series 'Ready As I'll Ever Be'**_

 _ **Outside the Gates of Time and Space**_

The vortex opened up in a dark and forbidden feeling room. Luna and Artemis were dazed as they looked around, "Where are we?" Luna asked as she tried to get her baring.

"You are currently outside the gates of time and space." Sailor Pluto responded mournfully, "I had to bring you here for now."

Artemis shook his head and then looked at the glittering surface of a mirror like object in the center of the room, "Luna look…"

Luna looked to where Artemis had indicated and instantly it was like someone had tossed her into an ice bath. The mirror shown what was happening in Tokyo, "Oh Artemis…" She gasped out with dismay. Then she turned to their rescuer, "We have to alert the rest of the scouts now! Take us to them!"

Before Sailor Pluto could speak, there was a brilliant flash of white light as a set of large bronze double doors appeared and a figure appeared before them, "The girls and my daughter already know I am afraid." Once the light dimed they looked and gasped.

"Queen Selenity." Luna and Artemis both bowed before her as she walked over to them.

"Now none of that. Before you see my daughter and the others, I have a lot to fill you in on, and so little time to do that." Queen Selenity said sadly.

Artemis looked at her, "We have been filled in on everything. Serena has given us access to more of the files to help us with this.

"And Ami has given us access to her notes that she's been taking. What is there more we need to know?" Luna asked, silently wondering how much more she could handle.

"One more thing, and it is going to take some time to explain. It is in regards to my relationship in helping you all. Are you ready?" She looked at each of them, including Sailor Pluto, who for her credit already knew what was going to be delivered.

Luna and Artemis did not like where this was going, but nevertheless responded together, "We're ready."

 _ **On the Moon**_

Serena was still doubled over in pain, clutching her chest. She could feel every ounce of pain and suffering happening on Earth down below, "Serena please what do you mean? What is happening?" ' _I do not get it, why can I not feel her now?_ ' He wondered frantically as the girls tried to help her focus on them, ' _I should be feeling her pain like I felt before_.'

' _ **It is your bond, she has been blocking you this whole time**_.' Came a response from inside his head. This brought Darien up short as he gasped. The others gave him odd looks, but he ignored them and focused on the voice once more as it spoke to him, ' _ **As Prince of the Earth you should be feeling what she is feeling right now with your connection to Earth and as her soulmate; as well as Mars and Venus for that matter since they also possess the gift of empathy to a degree. Mars with her spiritual ability, and Venus with her ability to sense the emotion in others**_ _._ '

"Endymion." He whispered out to himself and the other's looked at him.

"Darien what is going on? You alright?" Ami asked slowly, seeing that he was pale and giving Serena an odd look.

"Mina, Rei do you sense anything? Like from Serena at all, or anything in general." He chose to ask slowly as Serena managed to wince and give him a seemingly knowing look.

Rei and Mina looked at one another and then to the couple as Darien's look changed from perplexed to hard, and Serena (for her part) managed to give him a hard (yet painful) look back, "No." Rei responded as she tried to see what he was getting at.

Mina also shook her head, "Me neither. What is going on?"

"Tell them." Darien said, "Tell me. Why you have been blocking us this whole time; and not just the Great Fire either."

"What?!" They asked astounded. Diana and Aries for their part kept quiet and stood off in the corner.

"I was trying to-gah!" Serena gasped as another stab of pain shot to her core. Her barriers had fallen, and he was destroying the planet; their home and everything that resided in it; and it was all because she had been weak in that damn battle.

"Do not say you were trying to spare us." Rei growled out taking he friend's hand, "Let us in damn it. You cannot keep shouldering this."

"She is right. You are still fairly weak, and it didn't help that you were using the Silver Crystal constantly to keep those barriers in place." Ami said as she kept her computer out and constantly scanning Serena's energy.

Serena winced and kept trying to fight the Heart of Eternity from sending massive waves of emotion that was coming from Earth, "How-did-you-?" She was cut off by another wave of agony that made her want to rip her own heart out.

"Luna and Artemis contacted us." Mina asked as she overrode Darien, who was about ready to give his own outburst of this news, "Never mind that now though, Rei is right; let us help you."

Serena shook her head, "No…I…will…not-gah! Let you feel this." She finally managed to get out, "It's my fault and I will-"

"Let me feel the pain of my planet." Darien said getting down to eye level with her, while slowly and gently pushing the other's aside, "I am its rightful prince. Do I not deserve to feel what is happening to my planet?"

Serena managed to look at him, "It is not just yours."

"Well it most certainly is not just yours either." Darien stated firmly, but more gently as he could now see the agony in her eyes, "I know you want to shelter us, but please. Have faith in us. _**All**_ of us."

Serena heard his tone mingled with that of Endymion from her dream. Swallowing, knowing that both his words and the words of her scouts were correct, she nodded and motioned to him to give her his hand. He nodded and took it, "Please do not hate me for what you are about to feel. For the damage that I have brought to Earth." Before he could ask what she meant, she allowed the barrier that she had kept up since the day she left Tokyo.

It was like being punched in the gut multiple times by the strongest creature known to man. Everything that Serena had kept blocked came pouring out at once that caused Darien, Rei, and Mina to take a staggering step back, but it wasn't before long that it became too much that now all the girls were down on their knees as Serena had opened up the dam of agonizing, devastating pain that she was feeling that was coming from the planet that they had sworn to protect.

Rini knew in the future that the link with her parents, the scouts, and the Earth was sensitive. It was how they knew when there was going to be trouble; they had once told her that as her powers grew, she too would be able to feel the special and sacred link that they had felt, but feeling this now, especially coming from her mother from not sharing the overall suffering that is currently being brought on the Earth.

It felt like an eternity, but eventually the suffocating pain stopped and they were all able to breathe once more. When they looked at Serena, they could see that she was less pale and able to breathe again, and slowly they each got to their feet, "Alright, is there anything more you would like to share with us?" Haruka asked annoyed.

"Yes I've been blocking that from you, no it was not out of malicious intent, yes I used the Silver Crystal to place those barriers, yes it was using up my energy, they failed because the fight I went through made me weak, it compromised the barriers, Chaos must have sensed it and decided to break through, and no I think that is it." Serena answered, "By the way I feel a bit better thanks for asking."

"So he is attacking." Aries stated as a way of confirming Serena's explanation.

Serena looked at them now, almost forgetting that they were here in the first place, "Yes, I had helped by placing barriers around D-Point, formally Queen Beryl's hideout, to keep him there."

"Luna and Artemis had contacted us about that." Mina stated now in full report mode, still eying Serena with worry and slight annoyance at once again having information hidden, "They had wanted us to talk about…coming back?" She questioned and then it dawned on her, "Oh my god! They are down there!"

"No they are not." Serena interjected quickly easing their fears, "Pluto got to them in time. They are safe." ' _Thank god_ ,' she added mentally to herself, "Anyway yes we have to go back now."

"No you are not. We had a deal, you still have training you need to complete." Aries stated as he stepped towards her.

"He is right, the plan was for you to complete your training. You cannot accept your birthright or summon the Eternity Crystal without having proper control of your emotions, which are amplified by the Heart of Eternity." Diana explained a bit more gently seeing Serena shooting Aries a look.

Serena was about say something, but Michiru stepped in, "Wait, what if we went back and held him off while you stayed and finished this training?"

"No, that is not happening. I am sorry, and as bad as this is going to sound it was one thing to have you all deal with his monsters while I was gathering the diamonds; but I will not let you deal with him yourselves." Serena argued back.

"Well you cannot just up and leave." Aries shot back.

"I am not hiding anymore. At this point it is a lose/lose situation. I stay and they go back, they die. I've seen it happen!" Serena shouted. Then without waiting for a response, she shot her hand towards the fire. It erupted into a massive inferno before them and displayed the horrifying nightmare she had awoken from.

It was as if a massive iron ball was thrown at their stomachs as they saw this occurring. Especially when they watched their nightmare-selves attacking their friend. Part of them couldn't really blame Serena for watching to protect their best interests, especially after feeling the emotions that she had kept to herself. Once the vision vanished, the fire went back to normal and Serena stood there with her arms crossed, staring coldly at the two ancients before her, "We have no choice, I may not be as ready as I want to be, but I am damn well ready as I'll ever be. He forced our hand."

"You are still under the rules." Aries reminded her.

"Serena maybe we-" Lita tried to intervene.

"No! You are not facing him alone. I am forbidding it." Serena stated in a tone that Rini heard a lot of times that left no room for argument, "Our hand is forced." She retorted back dangerously.

Aries put his hands together as if praying for patience, "And you are not ready. If something should happen and you lose control because your friends got hurt-"

"We have no choice." Serena said firmly for the umpteenth time as she looked into the eyes of the ancients before her.

"You. Are. Not. Ready." Aries emphasized dangerously, "And in accordance to the ancient rules-"

"Screw the ancient rules!" Serena yelled as she straightened up and stared at him, "I've played by your rules. Now we are playing by mine. This is no longer the Golden Age, this is no longer the Silver Millennium; this is our time."

Aries looked at her and crossed his arms, "You made a deal."

"That was when I thought I had time; that we had time." Serena retorted as she crossed her own arms, "But we no longer have that luxury to afford such trivialness."

The girls and Darien sat in silence as Serena had her verbal spar with Aries; Diana for her part was looking just as torn between the two, seeing to understand both Serena and Aries's position on the matter. Aries looked to Diana, but seeing her struggle, he scoffed, "Fine; you know what fine see if I care." He stated and looked back towards Serena, "All this time you made me out to be the bad guy, well guess what? That's fine; just know that whatever comes next, you deserve." He then looks to Diana and says, "Go ahead and tell her what comes next. I am done." With that he disappeared in a flash of light.

Diana looks at the spot that he just was, and sighs looking mournfully at Serena, "Are you absolutely sure?"

"We have no choice. Whether or not you feel that I am ready, it is out of our hands." Serena said in earnest, "Now it's time to step up or it's time to back down; and quite honestly there's only one answer for me."

Diana looked at her and then at the rest of the group sitting in awkward silence not knowing if they should contribute to the conversation or not. However seeing that Serena was still giving her a firm look, she relented, "Alright. I see that I cannot change your mind, so with my blessing I release you from the ancient rules; but be warned we cannot help you any longer. You will never see us ever again."

This brought Serena up short, "Wait what?"

Diana nodded and came around to her and placed two hands on her shoulders, "We reside in what is called the Nether Realm. Only certain ones have access to this realm and only certain people can come and go. The ancients, namely us, have been able to come back because something drew us back."

"Chaos." Ami spoke up softly that everyone could see the implications of this mess and now why certain things have been put into motion that was beyond their control.

Diana nodded, "Correct. Your mother is also has this ability," Serena's eyes widened at this, "only because of the wish she had made to be able to help you so long as you need her." Then she grew serious and made sure she had Serena's full focus before delivering the blow, "You do this, and we will never have contact with you again. We had only come back to help you defeat Chaos, but if you really are neglecting our help further, then we cannot return. Do you understand?"

Serena looked at her, and then at her friends. Taking a deep breath, she stood tall, "Yes; unfortunately now it's time to rise up or it's time to stand down and the answer is easy to see;" Serena paused for a moment as she looked at her grandmother's resolve, "I think you know that too."

Diana nodded slowly, as if knowing that this time was coming to head, "Then you know what to do next. I love you my granddaughter go with my blessing and all the blessings of the ancients." Unlike Aries, she vanished slowly in front of them.

"So we are on our own then?" Hotaru asked looking at the older girls and then at Darien.

In response they looked at Serena for confirmation, "Yes we are." Letting that thought sink in for a moment or two, she mentally began to prepare herself what was about to come next.

Darien was watching her, almost unsure of themselves. He knew that the situation before had sucked, but now that they were gone-that Aries was gone-he understood the situation more clearly…and he did not like that implication that he had left behind about Serena 'getting what she deserved' if she should fail. Serena blew out the breath she was holding, which alerted him from his thoughts and Darien slowly moved towards her, "Are you sure we can do this?"

Meaning if she said 'no' could they come back or were they done. Serena had her eyes closed momentarily, processing his hidden meaning. Reopening them, she looked around and saw their faces, felt their unsureness, and yet their love, ' _ **Just as no matter how hard you try to keep it away, despair will attack you again and again; but**_ __ _ **hope will return to you. And again, and again it will surely bloom. Do you understand? Sure despair will attack, but in its wake hope will continue to fight it and keep coming back. You have to have hope**_.' Endymion's words echoed in her head as she took the time to look at each member of her family.

Finally she answered Darien's question, allowing herself to have the hope that he was talking about, and knowing where she would get more from, ""If we are together then I can guarantee it." She looked around and saw her girls standing and coming towards her, "Are you ready?"

They looked at each other and nodded, "We're ready."

Serena turned and walked towards the door, "What's the game plan now?" Rini asked as she had gotten over the shock of everything that has happened, taking in her mother's now rigid appearance and steel look in her blue eyes that unnerved her slightly.

Serena said nothing as she led them towards the massive stone ruins, that the girls and Darien recognized as the Silver Millennium Palace. She stopped right at what used to be the majestic walkway and summoned her staff first, "Before I can fully summon the Eternity Crystal, I have to reclaim my birthright." She answered finally as she took a deep breath and then faced them, "I do not know what may happen, but you have to trust me. You stayed with me this long, do you still wish to stay a little while longer?"

They looked at each other and summoned their transformation wands. In a brilliant flash of rainbow lights, in their places stood her Sailor Guardians, "Does that answer your question meatball head?" Mars asked smirking at her friend.

"We are always with you kitten." Uranus nodded.

Venus smiled softly, "Do it."

"We are here with whatever you need." Mercury said.

"Chaos won't know what hit him." Jupiter answered as she punched her fist to her palm.

Saturn and Neptune nodded along and Mini Moon stepped forward, "What happens if you somehow do not remember me?" She whispered. She was ready to help get rid of this horrible monster alongside her parents and the other guardians, but she recalled faintly the words that her mother had explained before, if this somehow resets the Silver Millennium, then it is possible that they wouldn't remember her…

Serena nodded and knelt down to her level, "We will cross that bridge when the time comes; however I will fight to remember you if you promise to not give up on me." Mini Moon threw her arms around her and hugged her tight.

Serena returned the hug with equal force and then let go. Turning she faced Darien, "Are you ready?"

He pulled out a rose and in a flash he was in his arm as Prince Endymion. Taking out his sword from his sheath he took a knee and said, "I swear on the sword that you have my eternal love and devotion and Earth stands by the Moon every step of the way. I'm ready." Following his vow the girls and even Mini Moon took the knee to Serena and repeated his words, adding their respective planets into the vow.

Serena kept her composure and nodded, accepting their oaths and turned to face the ruins once more, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath memories of everything she and her family have gone through coming to her, ending with the faces of the long ago ancient royals, ' _I'll make them hear me, and prove they can trust me. I'll save my home and family and the outcome will hardly come free; but now the line's in the sand and our moment's at hand-_ ' She opens her eyes and faces the ruins as she taps the butt of her staff on the ground, in a flash of light she feels the flow of her dress billowing around her, ' _And I'm ready_ _as I'll ever be_.'

Darien placed a hand on Rini's shoulder in silent comfort. Things that she had burst out before about the future were unnerving to him, but he also knew that Serena's words rang true, the future wasn't set in stone; however he prays that the ripples in the time stream are in their favor as Serena raised her staff in the air, her words a chilling echo around them, "Lend me the strength to allow me to claim my birthright and return this sacred kingdom to what it once was!"

Of all the times the times they witnessed their friend's power, nothing came close to what Serena was giving off now. It forced them down on one knee in a show of respect as the Silver Crystal forcefully gave over its power to Serena's wish. All around them was a show of brilliant light and the demolished kingdom was being rebuilt. Pillar's that were toppled were rising, balconies were being repaired, and towers were being reconstructed. In a final pulse of light, they shielded their eyes and looked upon in awe at their former home. More intimate memories were slowly coming to them as they looked around before finally resting on Serena…or rather soon to be Neo-Queen Serenity.

Rini looked around and a memory came to her; there had been a portrait that her mother had once painted that had hung in the den of the private family wing. She had once asked her mother where she had gotten the inspiration to paint such a serene looking piece, and her mother had simply answered ' _From a memory_.' She supposed this could have been the memory she was talking about. It felt like ages since she had seen her mother, but now before her the image of the person in front of her brought tears to her eyes. In front of them was the Moon Palace. Standing in all its beauty and majestic aura…like it was never destroyed just over millennia ago; with its ruler glowing regally in front of it.

Serena brought a hand to her forehead and fought the dizziness. Opening her eyes she looks around and says softly, "It looks…" she trailed off, not able to form the words that would do the scene justice.

Everyone got up and went over to her. Rini swallowed as she saw the unshed tears that her mother was fighting back, "Are you alright Mama?" She was hesitant to ask, thinking that Serena didn't remember her; in fact as she thought that, she looked around at the older scouts and her father, "Wait do any of you remember me?"

There was a pause at they looked at each other, Rini was starting to get nervous. Sensing this, Serena got to her knees and pulled Rini into a hug, "Of course I do honey."

"Oh than goodness." Rini breathed out.

"Aw I wanted to pretend that I didn't." Mina complained, which earned her a whack from Rei, "OW!"

"That would have been mean and uncalled for!" Rei stated.

Ami nodded and Lita crossed her arms responding, "Definitely harsh and below the belt."

"I don't know, watching her sweat would have helped relieve some of the tension." Haruka stated, "OW! Not you too!" She yelled looking at Michiru who glared right back. The staring match ensued before Haruka relented, "Ok, ok it wasn't all that great of an idea."

Hotaru stood by Darien, who was glaring at both Uranus and Venus, "It's alright; I think they were just trying to relieve the tension."

"Then find something else. Rini has enough to worry about." He said looking at his future daughter and Serena, both were thankfully ignorant of the situation currently.

Serena stood back up and gracefully turned to face them, "I perhaps should make something clear, this was all a formality. A sign really that the kingdom is reborn."

"Meaning what?" Michiru asked refocusing her attention.

"Meaning that yes I rebuilt the kingdom, yes you were witnesses, but I have to formally receive the transformation of power."

"Serena…" Rei growled out in warning.

"We need to go inside and get my mother here." Serena stated and started to lead the way, "Let's go."

When they walked in everyone couldn't help but gasp at the sight. It was everything that they remembered. The grand foyer was very open. To the left and to the right were staircases; Serena remembered that the left staircase went up to the study, library, and the conference room. The right staircase led to the rooms, the entertainment room, and a few others.

Instead of going up stairs, though she led them through the hallway between the stairs and once again everyone was in awe. It was the ballroom and up in front were two thrones. She sighed in remembrance, "It's like nothing ever happened." She whispered, but everyone heard her.

Darien stepped on the dais and gently grabbed her hand, pulling her close, "It'll be alright."

Serena sighed and regretfully pulled her hand away from his, stating firmly, "I will make sure of it. Now then, on to why I did this…"

He got off the dais and stood next to Mars and Rini as Serena summoned her staff once more, "Queen Selenity…I need you." Serena muttered and tapped her staff to the floor, the sounding echoing in the ballroom.

 _ **Outside the Gates of Time and Space**_

Luna and Artemis's jaws slacked in shock when Queen Selenity finished telling them everything. They had no idea what to say, in fact what was there to say? "Your majesty-" Luna was cut off by a sudden jolt and by a brilliant flash of white light around them. Queen Selenity and Pluto covered their eyes and when they looked, Luna and Artemis were gone.

It was only Queen Selenity and Sailor Pluto left in the room, "I guess she did it." Pluto said looking back at the mirror. She waved her Time Staff and it changed from what was going on presently to the forked future that laid ahead: Crystal Tokyo clear as day on the left, and complete annihilation of the Universe on the right.

Selenity nodded, "She did; and not for nothing about time too."

Sailor Pluto looked surprised at this, "Sounds like you wanted her to do take this route."

"In all honesty I want her to think for herself; have confidence in herself and her abilities. My mother and the ancients taught her useful things? Yes they did." She admitted, "However I never agreed with their methods. Isolating her, and putting her guard, child, and lover in danger would have never been something I would have done. Nor would I have her doubting her friendship and love for her family."

Sailor Pluto nodded, knowing these words were something she tried telling Serena all those months ago, "So now what?"

"Now we go and see that my daughter is given her birthright." Selenity stated as she mentally prepared herself.

"You will never see us again, you said as much to Luna and Artemis when you explained your role, and the ancients royal in all this."

Selenity smiled sadly, "Never say never. If all goes well, then we will see each other again soon."

"And if it doesn't go well?"

The portal appeared at the wave of Selenity's hand, "We have to have faith that it will. There is no room for failure." Selenity was the first to step through, Sailor Pluto lingered for a moment longer looking at her mirror.

The images were still split, one larger than the other. Crystal Tokyo brighter than the one of destruction. The Queen was right: there was no room for failure; one little slip is all that it would take for this to come crashing down around them. The question that she had to ask herself as she stepped into the portal was: Were they really ready to lead this assault; or are they really deluding themselves to failure?


End file.
